Parental Substance Use Disorder and the Rise in Children Being Raised by Grandparents: Focusing on Children's Needs and Improving Outcomes.

The occurrence of children being raised solely by their grandparents has steadily risen in the past decade prompted by parental substance use disorder (SUD) and associated incarceration and death. These families, especially children, are a vulnerable population with unique needs. Nurses should be cognizant of the needs, risk factors, and protective factors often associated with this population.

Emergency Department-Initiated Interventions for Illicit Drug Overdose: An Integrative Review of Best Practices.

More than 20 million people in the United States have a substance use disorder (SUD), increasing their risk for overdose (OD). Patients arriving to emergency departments (EDs) with OD typically require lifesaving interventions, but inconsistencies exist regarding further intervention and discharge instructions. The purpose of the current integrative review was to determine best care practices for patients presenting to EDs with an illicit drug OD.

Research Priorities in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing: Funding Availability, Recently Published Work, and Future Directions for Advancing Our Science.

Background: Identifying and sharing psychiatric mental health (PMH) research priorities can help identify gaps in the literature, determine training needs for nurses, and assist investigators in locating funding.

Aims: The aims for this project included: (1) identify PMH nursing specialty research priorities from large, public funding entities; (2) compare the identified research priorities and scholarly articles published in 2020; and (3) outline future directions for advancing the science of PMH nursing.

Methods: Strategic plans of funding entities for PMH research were reviewed for research priorities.

Parental opioid use disorder: Examining their children's experiences, needs, and road to resilience.

Problem: Over 8 million children in the United States live with a parent with substance use disorder (SUD), inclusive of opioid use disorder (OUD). This is an adverse childhood experience (ACE), that often leads to poor outcomes such as developing SUD or mental illness. Interventions and research have focused more on the parent and not their children.

Promoting resilience for children of parents with opioid use disorder: A pilot study of a directed intervention.

Problem: Having a parent with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) is a childhood adverse experience (ACE), magnified by other accompanying ACEs. Outcomes for these children tend to include developing mental illness and/or Substance Use Disorders themselves. Few studies address these children's experiences and needs.

Children of Parents With Opioid Use Disorder.

Substance use disorders (SUDs) have been a priority public health concern for decades, with most recent conversations focusing on the opioid use disorder (OUD) epidemic. Children of parents with OUD have been impacted through poverty, violence, neglect, and emotional and physical abuse. Although treatment programs may address the family and parental role, few focus on the children.

Applying ambiguous loss theory to children of parents with an opioid use disorder.

Problem: Opioid use disorder (OUD) has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Children of parents with OUD are an unrepresented population, who often suffer consequences from their parent's substance abuse disorder. Such children may incur numerous psychosocial and physical losses.

An Update on Teen Pregnancy.

After years of high teen birth rates, there is currently a decline in U.S. pregnancy and birth rates among teens.

American College Students' Views of Depression and Utilization of On-Campus Counseling Services.

Background: College students are becoming increasingly depressed; however, many do not attend university counseling to seek help.

Objectives: What is the relationship between young adults' mental health literacy, perceived stigma of depression and treatment, knowledge of treatment benefits and risks, beliefs about alternative therapies, and influence of his or her social network with usage of university counseling?

Study Design: A survey was administered to N = 107 American undergraduate college students to ascertain the students' understanding of depression and their views of counseling services on campus.

Results: Both likelihood of using alternative therapies and perceived discrimination of social network accounted for 18% of the variance for likelihood of participants seeking campus counseling.

Awareness and Knowledge of Child and Adolescent Risky Behaviors: A Parent's Perspective.

Problem: Adolescence is a developmental stage marked by risk-taking and limited comprehension of dangers of risky behaviors. Previous research has focused on adolescents' perspective of risk with little evidence on parents' knowledge regarding risk.

Methods: This qualitative study examined parental knowledge and perspectives of child/teen risk behaviors associated with salvia, sexting, inhalant use/abuse, and self/participant-assisted choking.

Risky Behaviors and Social Networking Sites: How Is YouTube Influencing Our Youth?

Choking, cutting, and setting oneself on fire are just a few of the risky behaviors that the YouTube video sharing website has allowed youth around the world to view, emulate, and comment on. Some researchers contend that the viewing of videos may normalize these behaviors for youth. Disturbing current trends are explored to illustrate the darker side of YouTube.

E-cigarettes: a rising trend among youth.

Electronic cigarettes, known as "e-cigarettes," were designed as a smoking cessation tool for adults. An unintended audience for the product has been found with adolescents, many of whom have never used conventional cigarettes. Broad consequences of e-cigarettes on adolescent health include nicotine addiction-and later nicotine withdrawal-and potential for nicotine overdose.

The choking game: a risky behavior for youth.

Nurses working with children and adolescents should be cognizant of choking games, risky acts in which pressure is applied to the neck and the airway is obstructed to achieve a high. Evidence supports that many children and adolescents do not understand the grave consequences of choking games nor do they view participation as dangerous. Parents, teachers, pediatricians, nurses, and psychiatric-mental health professionals are not always aware that children and adolescents are engaging in choking games.

Professional writing in nursing education: creating an academic-community writing center.

Contemporary professional nursing requires competency in both oral and written communication. Outside of writing for publication, instructional methods to teach professional writing in baccalaureate nursing programs are not well documented in the literature. The need for professional writing, coupled with the need to diversify the workforce with students from varying ethnic and educational backgrounds, creates some additional challenges to meet programmatic requirements for scholarly, evidence-based writing outcomes.

Early assessment for Alzheimer's disease and dementia: comparison of two metamemory diagnostic tests.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a growing problem in the United States. Because of the inability of the Mini-Mental State Examination to detect AD in the early stages, other avenues of assessment must be explored. Two subjective assessment tests have been proposed to help evaluate progression from nonclinical to clinical AD: the Feeling-of-Knowing and Judgment-of-Learning tests.

Inhalant abuse: youth at risk.

Inhalant abuse is a significant problem affecting many people, particularly youth. The easy availability of products containing volatile substances (e.g.

Sexting: serious problems for youth.

Youth engaging in sexting (texting plus sex) includes behaviors such as sending, receiving, or forwarding of nude or partially nude images via cell phones. The true prevalence of tweens and teens engaging in sexting is unclear. This might be because of the general secrecy of the behavior, the rapid advances in technology, and the lack of a clear definition that accounts for the added developmental factors (e.

Examining factors that increase and decrease stress in adolescent community college students.

In contrast to adolescents attending traditional universities, adolescents attending community colleges represent a large but relatively unstudied population with respect to stress and mental health issues. The purpose of this study was to determine what factors increase and decrease stress in a sample of adolescent community college students (N = 166). Findings from a self-administered questionnaire indicated that students had moderate levels of stress and resilience.

Psychoactive herb use and youth: a closer look at salvia divinorum.

Salvia divinorum is a psychoactive herb and an increasingly popular recreational drug used by young people in our country and abroad. Much of its increased popularity stems from its easy accessibility and affordability; its effects produce an intense and potent "high" and concomitant disorientation and hallucinations. The risks associated with Salvia are poorly defined due to a lack of scientific evidence, leaving Salvia users with false assurances about its safety.

Virtual learning environments: second life.

In this bimonthly series, the authors examine how nurse educators can use the Internet and Web-based computer technologies such as search, communication, collaborative writing tools; social networking and social bookmarking sites; virtual worlds; and Web-based teaching and learning programs. The editor of this column and her coauthor describes how the virtual world of Second Life can be used in nursing education.

Drinking games and college students. Part 2: Nursing implications.

In Part 1 of this article, published in the February 2010 issue, the problem of drinking game participation by U.S. college students was described.

Drinking games and college students. Part 1: problem description.

College students seek peer acceptance and opportunities for social interaction. For many, it may be the first time away from home, away from the supervision and watchful eyes of parents and other family members. Whether for fun, thrill, competition, or the need to socialize with others, approximately two thirds of U.

Risky behavior of adolescent college students.

Nurses who provide care to adolescent college students are challenged to meet their diverse health care needs. Recent national survey data on American college students indicate that many participate in risky behaviors, which can have detrimental effects on their physical and psychosocial health. These data also reveal that college students rank health educators and health center medical staff as the most believable sources of health-related information.