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Contains fulltext : 183814.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)

Contains fulltext : 190057.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)

Although there has been a growth in recent years in recovery research, much of this has been from the United States, and there is very little comparative research in this area. This article describes the rationale, conceptual foundations and methods for a prospective, multicountry, cohort study aimed to map pathways to recovery from problematic illicit drug use, with a specific focus on gender differences in recovery pathways. This study combines qualitative and quantitative components and examines the impact of recovery policy on the accessibility and viability of recovery pathways in England, Scotland, Belgium, and The Netherlands. Additionally, the article describes five processes through which mechanisms for behavior change for recovery may be triggered. This study will provide opportunities for linking recovery outcome research with analyses of national recovery policies, while also addressing the gap in literature around female pathways to recovery.

Youths' help-seeking orientation on the individual level, and the presence of bonding and bridging social capital at the contextual level, are important factors in explaining at-risk urban youths' self-sufficiency. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 22 at-risk youths aged 15–25 years in an urban area, to study youths' perceptions of help-seeking and social capital. Consequently, we attempted to uncover the associations between these concepts. The results indicate that only few youths had positive help-seeking orientations, irrespective of their preference for self-reliance. Sources of help that youths feel comfortable to activate in their immediate environment are limited, but support is also found in extended family members. Bridging social capital is mainly provided by professionals and comprises instrumental and informational support. Many youths believe they can be understood only by individuals who are similar to them, but simultaneously indicate a need for additional support from significant others.

Alcohol policy research all over the world is often funded by national or local governments. Researchers involved may be confronted with several ethical questions. These questions can have quite a different character. Ethical questions may have a severe character that can be quite “clear” for the researchers involved. Miller et al. [1] for instance recently studied interference of funders, like governments or industrial and charitable organizations, in addiction research. Results show that activities occur such as censorship of research outputs, interference with the wording in reports and articles and interventions in when and how findings are released. Governments funding policy research may interfere in a way as described by Miller et al. [1]. but also less obvious ethical issues may occur: What if the research question is formulated in a “questionable” or “suggestive” way? What if policy makers deliberately ignore results of scientific research? The purpose of this contribution is to elaborate on these less obvious ethical issues, not primarily to give clear-cut answers but to raise consciousness and stimulate reflection and debate among researchers and policy makers.

Previously, a Dutch randomized controlled trial evaluating an intervention aimed at changing adolescents’ cannabis use, called Moti-4, has shown its efficacy. A secondary analysis of the Moti-4 data investigated the process of change specified by the Stage of Change (SOC) model in cannabis use during the trial. Seventy-one Moti-4 participants and 60 controls were recruited for the study with a pre-test, post-test (T1), and six-month follow-up (T2). All participants showed signs of problematic cannabis use. No contribution of the Moti-4 intervention to a change in SOC between T1 and T2 was found. Although motivation for treatment and motivation for change can be conceived as independent predictors of treatment outcome, the SOC a person is in does not mediate the effect of the intervention on change in cannabis use. However, a reduction in cannabis use was associated with a positive change in “action willingness,” in line with the SOC model. In contrast to model expectations, a higher score on “contemplation” is associated with a higher cannabis consumption. Results highlight both the limitations and usefulness of the SOC model. Future interventions may focus more on the stage of “action willingness,” as well as on perceived social norms.

Objective: Problematic video-gaming or social media use may seriously affect adolescents' health status. However, it is not very well known which health-related problems are most strongly related to these issues. To inform the development of prevention and intervention strategies, this study aims to gain a better understanding of the health-related problems and demographical factors associated with problematic video-gaming or social media use in early adolescence. Method: A cross-sectional analysis was performed on data collected by two Municipal Health Services in the Netherlands in 2013-2014. In this survey among youth, 21,053 students from secondary schools (mean age 14.4 years) completed a web-based questionnaire. Multivariate analyses were carried out to assess the strength of the associations between mental health problems, life-events, lifestyle and substance use as independent variables, and problematic video-gaming and problematic social media use as dependent variables. Results: Of the participating students, 5.7{%} reported problematic video-gaming and 9.1{%} problematic social media use. Problematic video-gaming was most strongly associated with conduct problems, suicidal thoughts (all medium effect sizes, OR ≥2, p{