Effectiveness Bank web site Additions
Supported by  Alcohol Change UK web site   Society for the Study of Addiction web site
Effectiveness Bank additions 27 June 2019
Cumulative stress, deprivation, and exclusion are associated with poor health outcomes and risky behaviours, and in these entries, factor into the motivation for tailored and targeted substance use interventions. ‘Hot button’ issues include treatment for new psychoactive substances (previously known as ‘legal highs’), support on leaving the military, mitigating the (often disproportionately) negative impact of prison on women, and marrying recovery with life on the streets.

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Low-barrier intervention for homeless people with (mostly severe) drinking problems
Heavy drinking is clearly problematic for homeless populations, but is the best way to tackle it to aim for abstinence, or to accept the reality of life on the streets and aim to reduce harm and improve lives in ways which make sense to the patient? This US study provides part of the answer.

Improving recovery prospects for women in prison
Baroness Jean Corston called for a “distinct, radically different, visibly-led, strategic, proportionate, holistic, woman-centred, integrated approach” for vulnerable female offenders. This study asks whether drug recovery wings in two English women’s prisons delivered on these ambitions, and if not what was missing for them to provide an optimal space for recovery and foster the continuous care pathway women need?

Challenges of adjusting to life on ‘civvy street’
Compared with being deployed, transitioning from the armed forces to civilian life may not immediately come to mind as a stressful period in a veteran’s life. However, it can be due to the significant changes this generates (eg, in housing, finances, family life, and support networks). What do US studies tell us about the utility of brief alcohol interventions for reducing the risk of military personnel developing drinking problems and using alcohol to cope during this time?

New substances, new challenges
In May 2016 the Psychoactive Substances Act placed a ‘blanket ban’ on new psychoactive substances. While the national focus shifted to this legislation, relatively little consideration was given to developing a treatment response. Interviews in Manchester (England) reveal emerging drug trends among homeless people using ‘spice’ and gay and bisexual men engaged in ‘chemsex’, and the barriers to existing services.

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The Drug and Alcohol Findings Effectiveness Bank offers a free mailing list service updating subscribers to UK-relevant evaluations of drug/alcohol interventions. Findings is supported by Alcohol Change UK and the Society for the Study of Addiction and advised by the National Addiction Centre.