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Substance Use Disorders: A Global Public Health Issue
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Substance Use Disorders: A Global Public Health Issue

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 March 2024) | Viewed by 2406

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Andreas G. Franke

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Hochschule der Bundesagentur für Arbeit, University of Applied Labour Studies, Campus Mannheim, D-68163 Mannheim, Germany
Interests: psychiatry and psychotherapy; addiction medicine; health services research; unemployment and mental illness; neuro-/bioethics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Without any question, substance use disorders (SUD) such as substance abuse and addiction, are major public health concerns worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) identified SUD— together with other mental disorders—to be a leading cause for disability worldwide. For example, 5.9% of deaths worldwide can be attributed to alcohol, e.g., cardiovascular disease, diabetes, injuries, gastrointestinal diseases or cancers, etc. However, there are further psychoactive legal as well as illegal psychoactive substances such as tobacco, cannabis, stimulants, opioids, sedatives/ hypnotics, cocaine, volative solvents leading to detrimental somatic (e.g. cardiovascular disease, cancer), mental (e.g. depression, cognitive decline) and psychosocial consequences such as accidental injuries, aggression, violence, suicide and precarious living situations that come along with further societal exclusion, severer (mental) health problems and increased mental vulnerabilities, missing education, unemployment, becoming criminal, self-harm and self-stigmatization, etc.

Without any therapeutic option, SUD have a very poor outcome regarding the above-mentioned and further consequences.

This demonstrates the significant impact of prevention and intervention. Even if health care systems provide divergent possibilities for prevention and therapy, only a more or less small part of people suffering from SUD can be reached by current options. On average, most people suffering from SUD enter the treatment system after many years of SUD. Therapeutic options contain many different parts such as addiction specific counselling, motivational interviewing, cognitive-behavioral therapies, pharmacological treatment and lately different types of e-interventions.

Those entering treatment have many complex needs including mental health needs that can only be met through a combination of specialist treatment and a wider social and health care.

This Special Issue addresses divergent aspects of SUD as a worldwide major health issue. It contains somatic, mental and especially psychosocial consequences of SUD, as well as meaningful aspects of prevention and therapeutic options in different health care systems worldwide.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Prof. Dr. Andreas G. Franke
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • substance use disorders (SUD)
  • addiction
  • treatment
  • psychosocial consequences
  • comorbidities
  • gender aspects
  • public health
  • mental health
  • criminal offense
  • legal/illegal substances

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 1332 KiB  
Article
Development and Validation of a Questionnaire for Assessing Drug Use Motives in the General Population in South Korea
by Joon-Yong Yang, Minhye Kim and Aeree Sohn
Healthcare 2024, 12(1), 86; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12010086 - 29 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1037
Abstract
Drug use is increasing in South Korea, necessitating evidence-based policy interventions. However, there is a dearth of reliable tools for identifying the personal and psychological factors that drive drug use among Korean adults. In this study, we developed and validated an instrument based [...] Read more.
Drug use is increasing in South Korea, necessitating evidence-based policy interventions. However, there is a dearth of reliable tools for identifying the personal and psychological factors that drive drug use among Korean adults. In this study, we developed and validated an instrument based on a motivational model to measure drug use motivation in the Korean context. A survey was administered online to 250 Korean adults aged 19–59. Of the initial 37 potential items evaluated, 23 were retained after exploratory factor analysis. Based on their relevance and factor loadings, the final scale consisted of 15 items distributed across five distinct factors: enhancement, coping, social, positive expectancy, and negative expectancy. Confirmatory factor analysis validated the strong fit of the five-factor model. Criterion-related validity was demonstrated by the significant correlations between the five factors and the selected criterion variables. This instrument can be used in research initiatives related to drug addiction and can provide basic data for policy interventions intended to curb drug addiction problems in South Korea. The novelty and broad applicability of this instrument make it invaluable for exploring the psychological underpinnings of drug use in South Korea. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Substance Use Disorders: A Global Public Health Issue)
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23 pages, 1127 KiB  
Article
Cigarette Smoking, Risky Alcohol Consumption, and Marijuana Smoking among University Students in Germany: Identification of Potential Sociodemographic and Study-Related Risk Groups and Predictors of Consumption
by Thilo A. Hoff, Sebastian Heller, Jennifer L. Reichel, Antonia M. Werner, Markus Schäfer, Ana Nanette Tibubos, Perikles Simon, Manfred E. Beutel, Stephan Letzel, Thomas Rigotti and Pavel Dietz
Healthcare 2023, 11(24), 3182; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11243182 - 16 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1101
Abstract
(1) Background: Cigarette smoking, risky alcohol consumption, and marijuana smoking are the most common behaviors related to legal and illicit drug use worldwide, including among university students. To plan effective evidence-based programs to prevent the risky consumption of these substances among university students, [...] Read more.
(1) Background: Cigarette smoking, risky alcohol consumption, and marijuana smoking are the most common behaviors related to legal and illicit drug use worldwide, including among university students. To plan effective evidence-based programs to prevent the risky consumption of these substances among university students, the present study aimed to identify potential sociodemographic and study-related risk groups and predictors of consumption. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional online health survey with approximately 270 health-related items was conducted among students at the University of Mainz, Germany. Cigarette smoking, risky alcohol consumption (AUDIT-C score: female ≥ 4, male ≥ 5), and marijuana smoking were chosen as dependent variables. Of the 270 health-related items, 56 were chosen as independent variables and collated into five groups (sociodemographic, psychological, study-related psychosocial, general psychosocial and health behavior). The prevalence of cigarette smoking, risky alcohol consumption, and marijuana smoking was assessed using established and validated instruments. Pearson’s chi-square test was used to analyze the differences in prevalence between the sociodemographic and study-related groups, and binary logistic regression was used for analyses with stepwise inclusion of the five variable groups. (3) Results: Of the 3991 university students who entered the analyses, 14.9% reported smoking cigarettes, 38.6% reported risky alcohol consumption, and 10.9% reported smoking marijuana. The prevalence of these differed between genders, fields of study, and aspired degree level, among other factors. Binary logistic regression analyses revealed nine significant predictors (p ≤ 0.05) of cigarette smoking (Nagelkerke R2 = 0.314), 18 significant predictors of risky alcohol consumption (Nagelkerke R2 = 0.270), and 16 significant predictors of marijuana smoking (Nagelkerke R2 = 0.239). (4) Conclusions: This study showed cigarette smoking, risky alcohol consumption, and marijuana smoking among university students in Germany to be associated with multiple factors, especially health behaviors. Furthermore, each of the substances was highly associated with each of the two other substances we examined. Other variable groups, such as psychological or psychosocial variables, seemed to play a rather minor role. Therefore, our recommendation for future prevention programs is that substance use among university students should be addressed as a whole, not just in terms of specific substances. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Substance Use Disorders: A Global Public Health Issue)
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