Prevention strategy for substance use disorder

Date:
August 20, 2020
Source:
Indiana University
Summary:
There are well documented risk factors associated with developing
substance use disorder across all age groups. A recent study found
those risk factors affect age groups differently and proposes a
primary prevention strategy for substance use disorder that is
individualized for people within defined age groups.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== There are well documented risk factors associated with developing
substance use disorder across all age groups. A recent study from IUPUI
found those risk factors affect age groups differently and proposes
a primary prevention strategy for substance use disorder that is
individualized for people within defined age groups.


==========================================================================
The study proposes a primary prevention strategy for SUD that is
individualized for people within defined age groups. This approach is
in contrast to current strategies that involve targeting individual
substances being abused within a certain community or population.

"We need to start approaching the problem of substance use disorder
from the basis of what makes individuals abuse one or more substances
instead of what substances are abused in a community," said Eric Afuseh, clinical assistant professor at the IUPUI School of Nursing. "The current prevention approach does not consider the fact that what makes a child
develop a substance use disorder is different from what will cause an
adult or older adult to abuse the same substance." The study, published
in Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, looked at more than
300 written articles, published between 1989 and 2019, to identify risk
factors for substance use disorder among children, young adults, adults,
and older adults. Researchers analyzed similarities and differences in
risk factors across life stages and found that across all age groups,
risk factors for developing SUD included adverse childhood experiences,
trauma, chronic health diseases, environmental factors, family history,
social determinants, and grief and loss.

However, despite the similarities, the contextual factors and life
challenges associated with these risks varied according to life stages.

For children under 18, the study found risk factors included adverse
childhood experiences and trauma, peer pressure, participation in
organized athletics and a family history of misuse. For young adults
(age 18-25), who may or may not have had childhood risk factors, the added stress of adulthood, latent family history, lack of positive parental role models, lack of employment, and academic stress were added risk factors.

Major risk factors for adults age 26-64, according to the study, are
related to family life and career. Different careers associated with
substance use disorders in adults include high-stress jobs and heavily
physical jobs such as healthcare, military service, and law. While risk
factors for adults over 65 are similar to those in younger groups,
there are also unique age-related risk factors such as experiencing
grief and loss more frequently, due to deaths among family and friends,
and a greater tendency for chronic physical illnesses, such as arthritis
and other chronic pain conditions, which increases the likelihood of
misusing substances to relieve pain.

To create preventions that work, Afuseh's team suggests screenings based
on the identified risk factors in each age group. Screening results can
be used to customize education and empowerment interventions such as
mentoring, social media, targeted communications, workplace orientation information and more.

The age-based approach, Afuseh said, not only allows prevention
methods to be individualized, it also takes off some of the burden off
of healthcare workers, as anyone can initiate it including parents,
educators and employers.

"Federal, state and local agencies have put resources and processes
in place to address substance use disorders at different levels of the
disease continuum," Afuseh said. "But those strategies tend to address
specific substances at the population level. To be truly effective, we
need to account for the unique developmental factors and life stressors
in different age groups, the potential misuse of more than one substance
at a time and the multiple risk factors for developing a substance use disorder." Afuseh has proposed age-related screening, education and empowerment as a framework for primary prevention of SUD. Researchers
will now work to design and test screening tools that can be administered
to individuals of different age groups with recommended strategies to
address each screening result.

Caitlin Pike and Ukamaka Oruche, of the School of Nursing IUPUI,
co-authored the study.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Indiana_University. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Eric Afuseh, Caitlin A. Pike, Ukamaka M. Oruche. Individualized
approach
to primary prevention of substance use disorder: age-related risks.

Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, 2020; 15 (1)
DOI: 10.1186/s13011-020-00300-7 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200820143858.htm

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