42 results match your criteria: "The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre[Affiliation]"

Patients presenting to the ED after using illicit drugs, including novel psychoactive substances, are a unique source of information on substances that are directly causing acute harm in the community. Conventionally, illicit drug intoxications are assessed and managed in EDs based on self-report and presenting symptoms, with no objective data on the causative agent. The Emerging Drugs Network of Australia (EDNA) is a national toxico-surveillance system that provides analytic data on these drugs, from sentinel Emergency Departments.

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Background: Interventions are required that address delays in treatment-seeking and low treatment coverage among people consuming methamphetamine.

Objective: We aim to determine whether a self-administered smartphone-based intervention, the "S-Check app" can increase help-seeking and motivation to change methamphetamine use, and determine factors associated with app engagement.

Methods: This study is a randomized, 28-day waitlist-controlled trial.

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Objectives: In overdose, gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and its precursors can cause decreased levels of consciousness, coma and death. Here, we aim to describe reported exposure to GHB at four EDs in Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

Methods: We searched the ED databases of four Sydney metropolitan hospitals for presentations relating to GHB exposure between 2012 and 2021.

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Introduction: Sleep disturbance is common during methamphetamine (MA) use and withdrawal; however, the feasibility of combined subjective-objective measurement of sleep-wake has not been shown in this population. Actigraphy is a well-established, non-invasive measure of sleep-wake cycles with good concordance with polysomnography. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility and utility of using actigraphy and sleep diaries to investigate sleep during MA withdrawal.

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Participant experiences in a pilot study for methamphetamine withdrawal treatment: Implications for retention.

Int J Drug Policy

April 2024

The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), University of New South Wales, 22-32 King St, Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia; Alcohol and Drug Service, St Vincent's Hospital Sydney, 390 Victoria St Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia; The National Centre for Clinical Research on Emerging Drugs (NCCRED), c/o University of New South Wales, 22-32 King St, Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia.

Article Synopsis
  • The study aims to explore the perspectives of individuals who used methamphetamine and participated in a clinical trial for lisdexamfetamine to address acute withdrawal, highlighting the need for patient-centered trial design.
  • Using thematic analysis of interviews with eight participants, the research identified key factors influencing their experiences, including the importance of transparent procedures, a welcoming environment, and effective communication, all of which impacted their enrollment decisions.
  • Four main themes emerged from the analysis: agency, caring-trust, safety, and communication, suggesting that by incorporating participants' experiences into trial design, future studies can enhance participant retention and overall experience.
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Article Synopsis
  • A study in Western Australia analyzed emergency department cases involving GHB, focusing on demographics, pre-hospital circumstances, and clinical outcomes from April 2020 to July 2022.
  • Out of 45 cases, the median age was 34, with 53.3% being female, and most arrived by ambulance requiring immediate care; one-third were admitted to intensive care.
  • The high occurrence of co-detection with methylamphetamine and the significant number of patients presenting with severe consciousness impairment highlight trends that need further investigation for public health implications.
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Optimizing Digital Tools for the Field of Substance Use and Substance Use Disorders: Backcasting Exercise.

JMIR Hum Factors

December 2023

Health and Addictions Research Group, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

Background: Substance use trends are complex; they often rapidly evolve and necessitate an intersectional approach in research, service, and policy making. Current and emerging digital tools related to substance use are promising but also create a range of challenges and opportunities.

Objective: This paper reports on a backcasting exercise aimed at the development of a roadmap that identifies values, challenges, facilitators, and milestones to achieve optimal use of digital tools in the substance use field by 2030.

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Article Synopsis
  • GHB is frequently used in sexuality and gender diverse communities, leading to a significant risk of overdose, which can be fatal; recent studies indicate a rise in GHB-related deaths.
  • A qualitative study interviewed 31 individuals who use GHB, exploring their actions and decisions when witnessing someone else's overdose, often occurring in private, sexualized settings.
  • Findings revealed a lack of consensus on what constitutes a GHB overdose and highlighted unsafe response practices, underscoring the need for targeted education programs on overdose prevention and first aid response, including proper EMS contact procedures.
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Introduction: Fielding greater than 100,000 calls annually, telephone helplines are an important point of entry to alcohol and other drug (AOD) support and services in Australia. Methamphetamine and emerging drugs can present a particular challenge for this workforce. We sought to identify training needs for these services, so that appropriate targeted resources can be developed.

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Rationale: Regular consumption of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) may result in a dependence syndrome that can lead to withdrawal symptoms. There are limited data on medications to manage GHB withdrawal.

Objectives: To examine characteristics associated with delirium and discharge against medical advice (DAMA), in the context of implementing a GHB withdrawal management protocol at an inner-city hospital in 2020.

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Lisdexamfetamine for the treatment of acute methamphetamine withdrawal: A pilot feasibility and safety trial.

Drug Alcohol Depend

December 2022

The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Alcohol and Drug Service, St Vincent's Hospital Sydney, Sydney, Australia; The National Centre for Clinical Research on Emerging Drugs (NCCRED), c/o the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Article Synopsis
  • The study explored the use of lisdexamfetamine for safely managing acute methamphetamine withdrawal in an inpatient setting, as there are currently no effective treatments.
  • Ten participants were enrolled, and the tapering doses of lisdexamfetamine were generally well-tolerated, with no serious adverse events reported.
  • The results showed that withdrawal symptoms and cravings decreased over the course of treatment, indicating that this approach could be a feasible option for addressing methamphetamine withdrawal.
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Introduction: Methamphetamine (MA) use disorder is an important public health concern. MA withdrawal is often the first step in ceasing or reducing use. There are no evidence-based withdrawal treatments, and no medication is approved for the treatment of MA withdrawal.

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Playing at the edges, navigating sexual boundaries, and narrating sexual distress; Practices and perspectives of sexuality and gender diverse people who use GHB.

Int J Drug Policy

October 2022

National Centre for Clinical Research on Emerging Drugs, c/o the University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia; The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), the University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia; Alcohol and Drug Service, St Vincent's Hospital Sydney, Darlinghurst 2010, Australia.

Background: Research addressing sexualised use of GHB to date has largely focussed on gay and bisexual men's GHB use in the context of chemsex, this research has highlighted risks and experiences associated with sexual violence. No studies have included people of diverse sexualities and genders and documented reported practices to ensure mutually gratifying and consensual sex in the context of sexualised drug use (SDU).

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 people from sexuality and gender diverse communities living in Australia who reported three or more occasions of GHB use in the previous 12 months.

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Issues: Cessation of methamphetamine use may result in a characteristic withdrawal syndrome, no medication has been approved for this indication. This systematic review aims to assess the efficacy of pharmacotherapy for methamphetamine withdrawal, the first comprehensive meta-analysis since 2008.

Approach: MEDLINE (1966-2020), CINAHL (1982-2020), PsychINFO (1806-2020) and EMBASE (1947-2020) were systematically searched.

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Background: Peer-led interventions are central to the global HIV response for gay and bisexual men who have sex with men [GBMSM]. Since the year 2000, technological advancements in HIV and an increased response to the health disparities faced by GBMSM outside of HIV, have contributed to the expanding scope of their content and delivery. This review sets out to characterise the evidence base for individual level peer interventions for GBMSM, overview approaches to implementing and evaluating them and identify future priorities for their delivery and evaluation.

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Controlling for pleasure and risk: The experiences of sexuality and gender diverse people who use GHB.

Int J Drug Policy

July 2022

National Centre for Clinical Research on Emerging Drugs, c/o the University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia; The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), the University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia; Alcohol and Drug Service, St Vincent's Hospital Sydney, Darlinghurst 2010, Australia.

Background: GHB is used among some sexuality and gender diverse populations at elevated rates, however little qualitative research has explored GHB use among these populations with regards to diverse contexts, settings, practices, and experiences of use. Internationally, harms relating to GHB overdose appear to be increasing. Research outlining consumers' experiences of GHB-related pleasures and their strategies to reduce harms may inform GHB education and intervention responses.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has afforded the opportunity for some to improve lifestyle behaviours, while for others it has presented key challenges. Adverse changes in global lifestyle behaviours, including physical activity, sleep, and screen time can affect proximal mental health and in turn distal cardiovascular outcomes. We investigated differences in physical activity, sleep, and screen time in parents and children during early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia compared to pre-COVID-19 national data; and estimated associations between these movement behaviours with parent and child mental health.

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Background: Nascent evidence indicates that the mental health of parents and children has markedly declined during the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering disruptions to traditional face-to-face mental health services resultant from stay-at-home orders, the potential value of digital mental health interventions has become extremely apparent. Despite this, uptake of digital interventions remains poor, indicating that a better understanding is needed of factors that determine a willingness to use digital platforms.

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Child, parent, and family mental health and functioning in Australia during COVID-19: comparison to pre-pandemic data.

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

February 2023

Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development, School of Psychology, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Geelong, VIC, 3216, Australia.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents significant risks to population mental health. Despite evidence of detrimental effects for adults, there has been limited examination of the impact of COVID-19 on parents and children specifically. We aim to examine patterns of parent and child (0-18 years) mental health, parent substance use, couple conflict, parenting practices, and family functioning during COVID-19, compared to pre-pandemic data, and to identify families most at risk of poor outcomes according to pre-existing demographic and individual factors, and COVID-19 stressors.

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Introduction: This study aimed to gather a range of opinions, including those of affected people (consumers, concerned others) to identify clinical research priorities for methamphetamine and emerging drugs of concern in Australia, to guide the work of the National Centre for Clinical Research on Emerging Drugs (NCCRED).

Methods: A priority setting study was conducted (February-March 2019) in four phases: online stakeholder survey, thematic analysis of responses, rapid literature review, expert panel ranking of priorities against predetermined criteria.

Results: Forty-seven respondents completed the survey, including people identifying as one or more of: researcher (53%, n = 25), clinician (45%; n = 21), family/friend/caregiver of someone who uses methamphetamine/emerging drugs (15%, n = 7) and consumer of methamphetamine/emerging drugs (13%, n = 6).

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Subjective wellbeing in parents during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

J Psychosom Res

June 2021

Deakin University, Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development, School of Psychology, Victoria, Australia; University of Melbourne, Department of Paediatrics, Victoria, Australia; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital, Victoria, Australia; The University of New South Wales, The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, Australia.

Objectives: To examine (1) the subjective wellbeing of Australian parents raising children and adolescents (0-18 years) during April 2020 'stage three' COVID-19 restrictions, in comparison with parents assessed over 18-years prior to the pandemic; and (2) socio-demographic and COVID-19 predictors of subjective wellbeing during the pandemic.

Methods: Cross-sectional data were from the COVID-19 Pandemic Adjustment Survey (CPAS, N = 2365 parents of a child 0-18 years, 8-28th April 2020); and a pre-pandemic national database containing 18 years of annual surveys collected in 2002-2019 (N = 17,529 parents).

Results: Levels of subjective wellbeing during the pandemic were considerably lower than ratings prior to the pandemic (Personal Wellbeing Index, mean[SD] = 65.

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic presents significant risks to the mental health and wellbeing of Australian families. Employment and economic uncertainty, chronic stress, anxiety, and social isolation are likely to have negative impacts on parent mental health, couple and family relationships, as well as child health and development.

Objective: This study aims to: (1) provide timely information on the mental health impacts of the emerging COVID-19 crisis in a close to representative sample of Australian parents and children (0-18 years), (2) identify adults and families most at risk of poor mental health outcomes, and (3) identify factors to target through clinical and public health intervention to reduce risk.

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Background: Different types of chronic condition comorbidities can have dissimilar effects on the improvements or deterioration of mental health in older adults. This study aims to examine the impacts of different types of chronic conditions on inter-temporal trends of depressive symptoms.

Methods: Data on 11,457 adults from age 45 in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2011-2015 were used to estimate the prevalence of comorbidities.

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Association between Mental Disorders and Subsequent Medical Conditions.

N Engl J Med

April 2020

From the National Center for Register-based Research (N.C.M., O.P.-R., E.A., M.K.C., S.D., J.-C.P.G.D., T.M.L., P.B.M., K.L.M., C.B.P., L.V.P., B.V., N.W., J.J.M.), Center for Integrated Register-based Research (E.A., P.B.M., C.B.P.), the Departments of Biomedicine-Human Genetics (A.D.B.) and Public Health (M.K.C., M.F.-G., K.M.I., M.V., A.P.), the Center for Integrative Sequencing (A.D.B.), and the Big Data Center for Environment and Health (C.B.P.), Aarhus University, the Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (E.A., A.D.B., S.D., O.M., P.B.M., K.L.M., M.N., C.B.P., L.V.P., A.J.S., B.V., T.W.), the Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine (A.D.B.), the Department of Neurology (J.-C.P.G.D.), and the Research Unit, Department of Psychosis (O.M.), Aarhus University Hospital, and the Research Unit for General Practice (M.F.-G., A.R.R., M.V., A.P.), Aarhus, the Copenhagen Research Center for Mental Health, Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital (M.E.B., M.N., H.J.S.), Psychiatric Center Copenhagen (L.V.K.), Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences (L.V.K.), the Department of Clinical Medicine (T.W.), and the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Center, GLOBE Institute (T.W.), University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, and the Institute of Biological Psychiatry, Mental Health Center Sankt Hans, Mental Health Services Capital Region, Roskilde (A.J.S., T.W.) - all in Denmark; the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney (L.D.), the Department of General Practice, Melbourne Medical School, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC (J.M.G.), and the Queensland Brain Institute (C.C.W.L., S.S., J.J.M.), Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, the Park Centre for Mental Health (C.C.W.L., S.S., T.J.S., H.A.W., J.J.M.), and the School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine (H.A.W.), University of Queensland, Brisbane - all in Australia; the Departments of Psychology (P.J.) and Developmental Psychology (A.M.R.), Heymans Institute, and the Interdisciplinary Center, Psychopathology and Emotion Regulation (P.J., A.M.R.), University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston (R.C.K.); the Neurogenomics Division, Translational Genomics Research Institute, Phoenix, AZ (A.J.S.); the Department of Psychological Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand (K.M.S.); Sievert Consulting, Minneapolis (C.S.); and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle (H.A.W.).

Background: Persons with mental disorders are at a higher risk than the general population for the subsequent development of certain medical conditions.

Methods: We used a population-based cohort from Danish national registries that included data on more than 5.9 million persons born in Denmark from 1900 through 2015 and followed them from 2000 through 2016, for a total of 83.

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