Who stays? Australian alcohol and other drug work and worker characteristics predicting regional, rural and remote job retention.

Introduction: The Australian alcohol and other drug (AOD) regional, rural and remote (RRR) workforce experiences chronic workforce retention challenges. However, little is known about the characteristics of RRR AOD workers nationally, or factors associated with retention.

Objective: To examine the personal and professional characteristics of RRR AOD workers and identify factors that predict intent to remain in the workforce.

Disclosures of harming others during their most recent drinking session: Findings from a large national study of heavy-drinking adolescents.

Introduction: The extant Alcohol's Harms to Others (AHTO) literature is largely comprised of reports from victims. We investigated AHTO from perpetrators' perspectives, including how harms were associated with individual characteristics, and alcohol quantities consumed during the perpetration incident.

Methods: Participants (N = 2932) were 14-19 years old, recruited primarily through social media and screened as risky drinkers.

Safety first: Beliefs of older peers supplying alcohol to underage friends.

Issue Addressed: Underage drinkers most commonly source alcohol from older peers. However, few studies have examined older peers' supply-related beliefs and motivations.

Methods: A sample of 270 risky drinkers aged 18-19 years were interviewed in Australia where the legal purchase age is 18.

From eye rolls to punches: experiences of harm from others' drinking among risky-drinking adolescents across Australia.

Objectives: Exploration of experience of harms due to another person's drinking within a demographic particularly vulnerable to these consequences. Importance of study: Largest sampling of young Australian risky drinkers, who are underrepresented in general population surveys. The range of harms due to others' drinking reported here is more comprehensive than documented elsewhere.

Operationalising the quality of life construct in studies of alcohol and drug residential rehabilitation programme clients: A systematic review.

Introduction And Aims: Quality of life (QOL) is increasingly recognised as an important treatment indicator in the alcohol and other drug (AOD) sector, particularly in treatment modalities providing 'whole of life programmes', such as residential rehabilitation. However, it is currently unclear how studies conducted in AOD residential rehabilitation settings have operationally defined and measured QOL. This study therefore aimed to determine current practices in defining and measuring the QOL of residential rehabilitation clients.

Alcohol supply as a favour for a friend: Scenarios of alcohol supply to younger friends and siblings.

Issues Addressed: Adolescents under the legal purchase age primarily source their alcohol through social networks. This study assessed the provision context from the perspective of both underage recipients and their suppliers who were older peers and siblings.

Methods: Interviewer-administered surveys were conducted with 590 risky-drinking (50 g alcohol per session, at least monthly) adolescents.

Insomnia and Regulation of Sleep-Wake Cycle With Drugs Among Adolescent Risky Drinkers.

Study Objectives: We aimed to explore symptoms of insomnia in a group of youths characterized as engaging in risky drinking, their use of drugs as sleep/ wake aids, and the relationships between alcohol and other drug use and insomnia.

Methods: Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 596 Australian 14 to 19-year-olds identified as engaging in regular risky drinking. They completed the Insomnia Severity Index and were assessed for recent alcohol and other drug use, including drugs used specifically as sleep aids or to stay awake.

Comparison of Government and Non-Government Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Treatment Service Delivery for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Community.

Background: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations are more likely to misuse alcohol and other drugs (AOD), compared to the general population. However, LGBT engagement with AOD treatment is often precluded by insensitivity and misunderstanding of LGBT issues. These treatment barriers may be a consequence of either worker attitudes, organizational factors or a combination of both.

Men, Work, and Mental Health: A Systematic Review of Depression in Male-dominated Industries and Occupations.

Among men, depression is often unrecognised and untreated. Men employed in male-dominated industries and occupations may be particularly vulnerable. However, efforts to develop tailored workplace interventions are hampered by lack of prevalence data.

Refinement and revalidation of the demoralization scale: The DS-II-internal validity.

Background: The Demoralization Scale (DS) was initially validated in 2004 to enable the measurement of demoralization in patients with advanced cancer. Subsequent shortcomings indicated the need for psychometric strengthening. Here, the authors report on the refinement and revalidation of the DS to form the DS-II, specifically reporting the scale's internal validity.

Refinement and revalidation of the demoralization scale: The DS-II-external validity.

Background: The recently refined Demoralization Scale-II (DS-II) is a 16-item, self-report measure of demoralization. Its 2 factors-Meaning and Purpose and Distress and Coping Ability-demonstrate sound internal validity, including item fit, unidimensionality, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability. The convergent and discriminant validity of the DS-II with various measures is reported here.

Addressing inequities in alcohol consumption and related harms.

Social determinants, or the conditions in which individuals are born, grow, live, work and age, can result in inequities in health and well-being. However, to-date little research has examined alcohol use and alcohol-related problems from an inequities and social determinants perspective. This study reviewed the evidence base regarding inequities in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related health outcomes in Australia and identified promising approaches for promoting health equity.

Cannabis use and quality of life of adolescents and young adults: findings from an Australian birth cohort.

Cannabis is generally used to enhance mood (quality of life), but it is not known whether it has this effect in the medium to longer term. Little is currently known about the temporal sequence between cannabis use and the quality of life (QOL). Data are taken from a prospective longitudinal study of pregnant women recruited at their first antenatal visit in Brisbane, Australia.

Quality of life, age of onset of alcohol use and alcohol use disorders in adolescence and young adulthood: Findings from an Australian birth cohort.

Introduction And Aims: Alcohol consumption among adolescents and young adults is a persistent community concern. Little is known about the short-term effects on the young adult drinker's quality of life (QOL), particularly prior to the first use of alcohol and the effect of alcohol consumption on subsequent QOL assessments. There is a need to know more about the QOL of those who decide to use alcohol in adolescence and the effect of alcohol consumption on young adult QOL.

Workplace risk factors for anxiety and depression in male-dominated industries: a systematic review.

: Working conditions are an important health determinant. Employment factors can negatively affect mental health (MH), but there is little research on MH risk factors in male-dominated industries (MDI). : A systematic review of risk factors for anxiety and depression disorders in MDI was undertaken.

The sources of pharmaceuticals for problematic users of benzodiazepines and prescription opioids.

Objectives: To describe benzodiazepine and prescription opioid use by clients of drug treatment services and the sources of pharmaceuticals they use.

Design: Structured face-to-face interviews on unsanctioned use of benzodiazepines and prescription opioids were conducted between January and July 2008.

Participants: Convenience sample of treatment entrants who reported regular (an average of ≥ 4 days per week) and unsanctioned use of benzodiazepines and/or prescription opioids over the 4 weeks before treatment entry.

Sexual risk taking in a community sample of international backpackers visiting Brisbane, Australia.

We sought to examine correlations between international backpackers' alcohol consumption and sexual behaviors and determine the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoea in this population. A cross-sectional study design consisting of a convenience sample (N = 168) of non-treatment-seeking international backpackers visiting Brisbane, Australia was recruited. Participants were asked to self-complete a questionnaire on sexual behavior and to undertake a urine-based polymerase chain reaction test for C trachomatis and N gonorrhoea.

Quality of life of people who inject drugs: characteristics and comparisons with other population samples.

Purpose: To assess the quality of life (QOL) of persons who inject drugs.

Methods: Some 483 current injecting drug users visiting a large NSP over a 2-week period in October 2009 were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. QOL was measured using the WHOQOL-BREF.

Drug, sex and age differentials in the use of Australian publicly funded treatment services.

Context: Little is known about the proportion of the Australian population using alcohol or other drugs who may seek treatment. There is a need to have some additional estimates of population morbidity which reflect harms associated with use.

Objective: To determine Australian population rates of publicly funded community based specialised alcohol and other drug treatment and in-patient hospital care by those 'at risk', by drug type, sex and age.

Childhood and adolescent psychopathology and subsequent tobacco smoking in young adults: findings from an Australian birth cohort.

Aims: To examine whether child and adolescent psychopathology predicts subsequent tobacco use at 14 and 21 years of age.

Design: Prospective birth cohort study.

Setting: Data are taken from the Mater Misericordiae Hospital and University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy and its outcomes (MUSP), a prospective longitudinal study which recruited women at their first antenatal visit in Brisbane, Australia.

Women's use of nonprescribed methods to induce labor: a brief report.

Background: Sometimes pregnant women take it on themselves to hasten labor to alleviate the discomforts of pregnancy. This study sought to identify how frequently women attempt to induce labor through nonprescribed methods, and what factors are associated with the use of such methods.

Methods: Surveys were distributed to postpartum women who had delivered at a Midwestern academic hospital.

Pharmaceutical opioid analgesic and heroin dependence: how do treatment-seeking clients differ in Australia?

Introduction And Aims: Non-prescribed use of pharmaceutical opioid analgesics (POA) has been escalating internationally. In Australia, few studies have examined if POA users have similar characteristics and treatment needs to heroin users. The aim of this study was to compare those presenting for treatment where heroin versus POA were the primary drugs of concern.

Sexually transmissible infections among sex workers and their clients: variation in prevalence between sectors of the industry.

Objectives: The risk of sexually transmissible infection (STI) among sex workers and their clients may be higher than the general population. However, many studies have categorised workers or clients into homogenous groups for the purposes of analysis. The aim of the present study was to assess variations in self-reported STI rates among licenced brothel, private and illegal sex workers and their clients.

Commercial sexual practices before and after legalization in Australia.

The nature of sex work changes over time for many reasons. In recent decades around the world, there has been movement toward legalization and control of sex economies. Studies of the possible impact of legalization mainly have focused on sexually transmitted infections and violence, with little attention to change in the diversity of sexual services provided.