(PDF) A Study on Substance Abuse Prevention

Health Promotion

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
The health promotion is consists of policies & programs to protect people from exposing
themselves to determinants of diseases. This report will summarise key policies and guidelines
that inform the issue and services.
Name the topic that you will review and appraise. (The topic must be reflected in the course
resources, approximately 1 – 8 words).
The topic selected for this report is,“Policies and Practices that contribute to the Health of
Drug Abuse in Children and Young People”
Discusses health policies that apply to the topic. (This requires approximately 600 words and
is to be supported with evidence and in-text referencing). (15%)
It has been determined that, a drug policy is a deliberate system of principles by
government, based on the control & regulation of drugs that is considered harmful, specially to
those who are addictive (Dejman, Vameghi and Fazeli, 2015). Government imposed policies that
address both supply & demand of drugs, also that reduce the harms of drug abuse. Further, drug
reduction protocol involve fines for drug crime. Apart from this, policies that help to reduce drug
abuse include needle exchange program that enables drug user to mitigate risk factor. It has been
discovered that, approximate 15% of Australians are users of illicit drug. Alcohol is considered
as the most common drug misused by school aged children, also it has been determined that
Australian children from age of 12 to 16 years take in alcohol & put themselves at risk with 12
months. As a result, their families are becoming worried that their children are relying on drugs.
However, the more likely occurring problem to any young people's health is the usage of legal
drugs like alcohol & tobacco (Grant and Graham, 2015).
A Balanced Approach
Demand Reduction Supply Reduction Harm Reduction
Refers to efforts made by
government to reduce
desire for illegal & illicit
drugs. Prevent the intake
drugs; reducing the misuse
of alcohol, tobacco and
This policy refers to an
effective tool for drug
supply reduction because
when drugs become costly
and difficult to acquire then
there are less drug user. This
This refers to principles,
policies and practices that
aim to mitigate the danger
related with the use of drugs
in people. Further, it
reduces the harmful health,
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Demand Reduction Supply Reduction Harm Reduction
other drugs in the
community.
in turn prevent, or otherwise
reducing the production and
supply of illegal drugs. It
aims at intercepting illicit
drugs within Australia as
well as at borders.
social and economic issues
of the use of drugs.
Further, Australia has a number of policies that have been improved over the years. Hence, these
have a significant impact on the children drug abuse. Further, common wealth laws prohibited
the export and import of certain drugs. Moreover, the Australian Federal Police has been
determined to maintain a website with providing information regarding its drug operations.
 The Alcohol and Drug Foundation, objective is to perform together to protect drug
related problems in communities. Further, it holds the contract with NSW Ministry of
Health to in order to manage the action programs (Hakata, 2016).
 Also, the Drug war Chronicle refers to a policy which is online based, that emphasizes on
consequences of prohibition. Therefore, this is considered a useful way of having a tract
of drug associated improvements in the US.
 The Drug and Alcohol program gives funding to number of Drug related treatment.
Moreover, the National Psycho-stimulants Initiative concentrates on solving the problem
caused by high availability and usage of Psycho-stimulants.
It has been discovered that, the habits that children start at young age will definitely affect them
later on. Further, at this small ages they are keen to learn and will easily understand concepts
such as alcohol is bad for them. It has been noticed that, once they start going to school they
become more curious to know the outside world. Anti drug education begins at home but also
other people and schools are also doing their part as well (Landsverk, 2017).
Apply principles of health promotion, primary health care and advocacy relevant to this
issue. (This requires approximately 450 words and to be supported with evidence and in-text
referencing). (10%)
Drug abuse has become major cause in Australia and it has extreme effects on children.
Thus following are principles to avoid this-
Principle 1- Prevention program in order to reduce risk factors.
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Becoming a drug abuser risk involves relationship among number and type of risk factors as well
as protective factors (Mallon and Hess, 2014).
The potential impact of specific risk and protective factors change as per the age.
Involvement of risk factor at early age has great impact than compared to later intervention by
changing the way of child towards positive behaviour that is all away from problems.
Principle 2- prevention program that address various drug abuse forms which includes underage
use and legal like tobacco, alcohol, medications, inappropriate use of legally obtained substances
and over-counted drugs.
Principle 3- in this Prevention program should address type of problems that is involved in local
community, that target risk factors and helps in strengthening protective factors.
Principle 4- this has to be tailored in order to address specific of risks to population as well as
audience characteristics that includes age, gender and ethnicity in order to improve effectiveness
of program (Miller, Humphrey and Thienprayoon, 2018).
Principle 5- this includes prevention programs that is based on family. This helps in
strengthening bonding of family and their relationships that includes various skills as parenting
skills, practice in developing and give proper and adequate training in drug education and better
information regarding this.
To maintain good relations between parents and children, the bonding between them should be
strong. This bonding can be developed with help of proper training regarding parent sportiveness
of children, parent child communication and involvement of parents.
Principle 6- prevention program in order to address aggressive behaviour, poor social skills, and
academic difficulties.
Principle 7- this program targets to improve the learning as academic failure and dropout from
schools. This education should focus on self control, emotional awareness, communication and
social problem solving (Pecora, Whittaker and Plotnick, 2017).
Principle 8- programs for middle or junior high school students and social competence with
skills that includes study habits, communication, peer relationships, drug resistance skills,
reinforcement of anti drug attitudes.
Principle 9- prevention programs that mainly aims in general population that includes transition
to middle schools that produces beneficial effects on children and families of high risks.
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Principle 10- programs that combine two or more effective programs like based on family or
school. It will be more effective than single program alone.
Apply the principles of equity, self-determination, rights and access applicable to this
health issue as relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. (This requires
approximately 450 words and to be supported with evidence in-text referencing) (10%)
There are various principles of equity with regard to child drug abuse in Aboriginals and
Torres Islander families in Australia. These include coordination and collaboration between
health care organisations, so that they can effective reduce the chances of drug abuse in children
and improve the outcomes (Seymour, 2017). They can help in reducing the availability of such
drugs in different localities, so that no one can use or provide them to children. Collaboration can
help in implementing responsibilities within governments, so that they can make such drugs
illegal and out of reach. Another principle includes partnership, where in health and law can
come together to impose restrictions on usage of drug on children. This can help in potentially
reducing the risk of increase in child drug abuse. When they provide the right education,
treatment, child welfare and other facilities, they can effectively decrease this health issue (Atun,
Andrade and De Paula, 2015).
Self determination means having certain rights that a group of individuals can use to
come together to address health issues such as child drug abuse, so that they can work towards
decreasing it in a significant manner. They will be able to get the right consultation and can make
decisions so that the government can help Aboriginals and Torres Islanders in protecting their
community, especially their children. There are many rights that are given to these people, which
can be availed to when any situation of child drug abuse arises. There are many prevention
programs and policies that can be availed by people of this community. Many support services
are provided for children, so that they can opt for treatments and cure themselves without much
problems. These rights give a chance to individuals, to decrease substance abuse, so that they can
live a healthy life (Sadana, Blas and Paraje, 2016).
With the rights and access to various healthcare facilities and educational programs,
substance abuse can be significantly reduced in children of the Aboriginals and Torres Islanders.
There are services that are physically and equally available for treating drug problems, especially
for those that can not afford them. Children that suffer from such illnesses can get help with
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these different principles and rights. Their families can be educated beforehand about such health
issues, so that they can prevent it effectively. It will help them understand how they can manage
and take care of such situations, in case they arise. Teenagers too, can be educated about the
harmful effects of drug abuse, so that they gain insights of the dangers and avoid using
substances (Betancourt, Corbett and Bondaryk, 2014).
Harvard References. (Not counted in word count 5%)
Atun, R., De Andrade, L. O. M. and De Paula, J. B., 2015. Health-system reform and universal
health coverage in Latin America. The Lancet. 385(9974). pp.1230-1247.
Betancourt, J. R., Corbett, J. and Bondaryk, M. R., 2014. Addressing disparities and achieving
equity: cultural competence, ethics, and health-care transformation. Chest. 145(1). pp.143-
148.
Dejman, M., Vameghi, M. and Fazeli, P., 2015. Drug abuse among street children in Tehran: A
rapid assessment. Journal of School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health
Research. 12(3). pp.1-11.
Grant, T.M. and Graham, C., 2015. Child Custody and Mothers with Substance Use Disorder:
Unintended Consequences. Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute, University of Washington
June 2015.
Hakata, T.L., 2016. The prevalence of alcohol and drug abuse by secondary rural school
children in Matobo. It’s impact on teaching and learning (Doctoral dissertation, BUSE).
Landsverk, J., 2017. Beyond common sense: Child welfare, child well-being, and the evidence
for policy reform. Routledge.
Mallon, G. P. and Hess, P. M., 2014. Child welfare for the twenty-first century: A handbook of
practices, policies, & programs. Columbia University Press.
Miller, E., Humphrey, L. and Thienprayoon, R., 2018. Drug Abuse and Diversion in Pediatric
Palliative Care—What You Should Know, What You Can Do, and What You Can Learn
from Our Multisite Experience (TH336). Journal of Pain and Symptom
Management. 55(2). pp.576-577.
Pecora, P., Whittaker, J. and Plotnick, R. D., 2017. The child welfare challenge: Policy, practice,
and research. Routledge.
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Sadana, R., Blas, E. and Paraje, G., 2016. Healthy ageing: raising awareness of inequalities,
determinants, and what could be done to improve health equity. The
Gerontologist. 56(Suppl_2). pp.S178-S193.
Seymour, C., 2017. Introduction: Children with Parents in Prison: Child Welfare Policy,
Program, and Practice Issues. In Children with parents in prison (pp. 1-26). Routledge.
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