Heroin use impairs smoking cessation among Australian prisoners.

Background: Prisoners have extremely high rates of smoking with rates 3-4 times higher than the general community. Many prisoners have used heroin. The aims of this study were to investigate the impact of heroin use on smoking cessation and the social determinants of health among prisoners.

Smoking and other drug characteristics of aboriginal and non-aboriginal prisoners in australia.

Introduction and Aim. Although tobacco and alcohol use have declined substantially in the Australian community, substance use among prisoners remains high. The aim was to compare the smoking, drug, and alcohol characteristics, sociodemographic profile, and general health of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal male prisoners in a smoking cessation intervention.

The challenges of reducing tobacco use among prisoners.

Issue: The prevalence of smoking among prisoners is exceptionally high and is often comorbid with alcohol and drug problems, mental illness and other health problems. This review paper summarises the literature and available research related to smoking prevalence and smoking cessation initiatives among prisoners and identifies areas of need for further research and intervention.

Approach: This paper highlights three studies conducted in the New South Wales prison system which attempt to address these high rates of smoking including a feasibility study, a focus group study and a randomised controlled trial.

What's in a name? Brand name confusion and generic medicines.

We need an urgent review of medicines labelling in Australia and New Zealand.

Cardiovascular risk among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal smoking male prisoners: inequalities compared to the wider community.

Background: Cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) were collected as part of a randomised controlled trial of a multi-component intervention to reduce smoking among male prisoners. Cross-sectional baseline data on CVRF were compared among smoking male prisoners and males of similar age in the general population.

Methods: 425 smoking prisoners were recruited (n = 407 in New South Wales; 18 in Queensland), including 15% of Aboriginal descent (mean age 33 years; median sentence length 3.

Helping smokers with depression to quit smoking: collaborative care with Quitline.

Objectives: To report smokers' evaluations and uptake of Quitline-doctor comanagement of smoking cessation and depression, a key component of the Victorian Quitline's tailored call-back service for smokers with a history of depression and to explore its relationship to quitting success.

Design, Participants And Setting: Prospective study followed Quitline clients disclosing doctor-diagnosed depression (n = 227). Measures were taken at baseline (following initial Quitline call), posttreatment (2 months) and 6 months from recruitment (77% and 70% response rates, respectively).

Men and depression.

Background: It is often reported that men have lower rates of depression than women, but this does not necessarily signify better overall mental health in the male population.

Objective: This article discusses the presentation of depression in men and how it may differ from that of women. It also provides strategies for improving the assessment of depression in men.

What can alert the general practitioner to people whose common mental health problems are unrecognised?

Objectives: To assess the characteristics of people with common mental health problems who are recognised by their general practitioner, and those who are not.

Design: Two different case-finding techniques (brief self-report and structured diagnostic interview) were compared with GPs' independent assessments of patients' presentations as psychological and/or medical.

Setting And Participants: 371 patients in general practices in metropolitan Sydney and rural New South Wales, with follow-up telephone interview as soon as possible after the GP visit.

Feeling unsupported? An investigation of depressed patients' perceptions.

Background: Much is known about the importance of social support for psychological health and general coping. While several measures exist to assess social support as a construct, less attention has been given to assessing the clinical and demographic factors associated with perceptions of low social support from multiple sources in clinically depressed patients.

Methods: Data on social support and depression history and severity were collected from a sample of 218 outpatients with major depression.

Promoting smoking cessation among prisoners: feasibility of a multi-component intervention.

Objective: To conduct a pilot study to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of a multi-component smoking cessation intervention among prison inmates.

Methods: A prospective study conducted within a maximum-security prison located near Sydney, New South Wales, and housing around 330 men. Participants received a smoking cessation intervention with six-month follow-up to determine abstinence.

A Brief Measure of Worry Severity (BMWS): personality and clinical correlates of severe worriers.

This report describes the development of a brief and valid self-report measure to assess severe and dysfunctional worry (the Brief Measure of Worry Severity or BMWS). Using three independent subject groups (clinical and non-clinical), the measure was used to examine the differential severity of worry in depression and anxiety and to examine the clinical and personality correlates of severe worriers. Preliminary psychometric evaluation revealed that the BMWS possesses good construct and clinical discriminant validity.

Relationship between self-reported childhood behavioral inhibition and lifetime anxiety disorders in a clinical sample.

To examine the association between an early inhibited temperament and lifetime anxiety disorders, we studied a sample of patients with major depression who were not selected on the basis of comorbid axis I anxiety disorders. One-hundred eighty-nine adults (range = 17-68 years) referred to a tertiary depression unit underwent structured diagnostic interviews for depression and anxiety and completed two self-report measures of behavioral inhibition, the retrospective measure of behavioural inhibition (RMBI) [Gladstone and Parker, 2005] and the adult measure of behavioural inhibition (AMBI) [Gladstone and Parker, 2005]. Patients' scores were classified into "low," "moderate," or "high" inhibition.

Critical decision points in the management of impaired doctors: the New South Wales Medical Board program.

The New South Wales Medical Board has developed the Impaired Registrants Program to deal with impaired registrants (doctors and medical students) in a constructive and non-disciplinary manner; the program is now well established. The Program enables the Board to protect the public, while maintaining doctors in practice whenever possible. Disorders that commonly lead to referral of impaired doctors include alcohol and drug misuse, major depression, bipolar disorder, cognitive impairment and, less commonly, psychotic and personality disorders and anorexia nervosa.