Substance Abuse by Teenagers: Assessment Strategies and Support Options

This report discusses the contemporary issue of substance abuse by teenagers, including external stressors, assessment strategies, ethical parameters, and support options. It also includes additional assessment questions and references.

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01 Mar 2019
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Contents
Contemporary issue and external stressors.................................................................................3
Assessment strategies.................................................................................................................3
Additional assessment questions.................................................................................................4
Ethical parameters....................................................................................................................... 4
Support options to encounter external stressors..........................................................................4
References:................................................................................................................................. 5
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Contemporary issue and external stressors
The contemporary issue selected for discussion in the present report is “substance abuse
by teenagers”. According to the classification of WHO’s ICD-10, the substance abuse include
disorder-forms due to alcohol consumption, illegal drug, and nicotine dependency. According to
the statistics of 2017, the global estimate of alcohol and drug abuse include more than 146
million people, among which gender differentiation reveals that more than 89 million (61%) of
those teenagers were male. The external stressors responsible for this issue include peer-pressure
and loneliness (bullying, breakups, teasing, and struggle for popularity) (Temple, 2015), family-
related factor (struggle for becoming adult, arguments, and independent form), or adventure
purpose.
Assessment strategies
The first assessment strategy include asking questions, directly to adolescent and those
working with them. This include identification of facts related to, the level of risk developing
with substance abuse, for existing psychological problem, and interrelationship of external factor
with personal life (Winters, et al., 2018). Other assessment question include the level of
dependence, attention and specific decision-making capability, and individual perspective about
family matter, socio-economic status, and peer pressure related issues. It is important for the
healthcare professional, to adopt suitable communication strategy and building trustworthy
relationship while performing the assessment. Adolescent must also be screened for: status
offenders, school or college dropout, emergency trauma, juvenile detention, mental health, and
any additional risk symptoms.
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Additional assessment questions
Additionally, the assessment question must include collecting information from
adolescent’ family members, close associates, friends, and the neighbors, to identify possible
stressors responsible for adopting the substance abusive behavior. The additional questions must
also be related to chemical, urine, blood, and transdermal patch related clinical analysis.
Ethical parameters
The ethical parameters include “duty of treatment” that ensure access of adequate care
facility. The “duty to warn” is another scope that include precaution measures and awareness for
the level of risk. In addition to this, confidentiality of information and maintaining a trustworthy
relationship (Dwarswaard & van de Bovenkamp, 2015). Adolescent client should be explained
the legal responsibilities as well as must understand the agreement made with the health service
providers. Information related to clinical outcomes, stressor, legal requirements, and treatment
methods adopted can be shared with family. However, additional request from client, for sharing
certain information will not be delivered immediately to parents or guardian to avoid peer
pressure. Importantly, in the documentation procedure, only the essential information should be
included.
Support options to encounter external stressors
Additional support include proper counselling to adolescent as well as their family
member or carer. Rehabilitation support is the important requirement that should help the client
in overcoming the future dependency problem for substance abuse. Additionally, education and
knowledge will also be given to the family members, carer and other supporters such that the
external stressors and related factors can be controlled in the next phase of adolescent life.
Likewise, life skill support is another additional support which include learning to earn
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livelihood, resistance from re-gaining the substance abuse, avoid thinking errors or negative
emotions, and positive behavior in context to societal factors (Petrova, Kozyakov & Romanova,
2016).
References:
Dwarswaard, J., & van de Bovenkamp, H. (2015). Self-management support: a qualitative study
of ethical dilemmas experienced by nurses. Patient education and counseling, 98(9),
1131-1136.
Petrova, E. A., Kozyakov, R. V., & Romanova, A. V. (2016). Modern technologies of
psychological prevention of drug addiction in teenage. Contemporary Problems of Social
Work, 2(4), 142-150.
Temple, J. R. (2015). A primer on teen sexting. JAACAP Connect, 2(4), 6-8.
Winters, K. C., Botzet, A. M., Stinchfield, R., Gonzales-Castaneda, R., Finch, A. J., Piehler, T.
F., ... & Hemze, A. (2018). Adolescent substance abuse treatment: A review of evidence-
based research. In Adolescent Substance Abuse(pp. 141-171). Springer, Cham.
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