AOD and Mental Health: Examining Differences Between Research Types

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the differences between pure and applied research within the fields of Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) and mental health. It defines pure research as exploratory, driven by curiosity, and focused on understanding the fundamental characteristics, causes, and preventions related to mental health and AOD issues. Examples include identifying the causes of mental illness and the impact of alcohol and drug consumption on the human genome. Applied research, on the other hand, is presented as a scientific approach aimed at providing practical recommendations and solutions for specific illnesses, targeting psychological issues related to addiction through detailed analysis. The essay highlights that applied research includes innovative service delivery methods, subject-oriented strategies, and effective communication, differentiating it from pure research's focus on generalized facts and information. Desklib offers numerous resources for students seeking further assistance with similar topics and assignments.

Running head: EXPLORING RESEARCH IN AOD AND MENTAL HEALTH SECTOR
EXPLORING RESEARCH IN AOD AND MENTAL HEALTH SECTOR
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1EXPLORING RESEARCH IN AOD AND MENTAL HEALTH SECTOR
A) What is the difference between pure and applied research in the field of mental health and
AOD?
Answer:
Pure research is a research, which is mainly conducted in order to explore the essential
characteristics of any case. It is an exploratory natured research, which can be done without any
laboratory practice. Curiosity and intuition mainly drives the analysis. Pure research on mental
health and AOD (Alcohol and other drugs) is primarily conducted to evaluate the causes and
preventions of mental health of the alcohol and drug addicted. It also includes the solutions about
how to recover such type of problems in the health care centres (Goodkind et al., 2015). The
parameters of how it may have spread is also a point of research. It explains about the statistical
data about every year how many patients are reported to suffer from such problems. If the
example is taken for the case of mental health, the pure research will concentrate upon what
causes such mental illness unlike the application research. Every patient has a different mind and
their different thinking (Henderson, Evans-Lacko&Thornicroft, 2013). The study includes the
practices of the caregiver that ensures the present status of the patient’s health. In the case of
mental health care, a specific set of rules and guidelines regulates the service needed to provide
for the mental health patient. In case of the pure researches related to the AOD, the scientists can
identify the critical changes that can be caused by the drinking alcohol and consuming different
drugs. The alcohol consumption and drug consumption is injurious to health and can cause
mortality, chronic illness and disability. The pure researches mainly brings awareness about the
concerns of the general idea about the changes of the health and mental situation of an addicted.
According to Steen, Kravitz, & Straussner, (2017) the pure research suggests that the drugs and

2EXPLORING RESEARCH IN AOD AND MENTAL HEALTH SECTOR
tobacco use and also the alcohol consumption can generate mutation in the basic structure of the
human genome which gives rise to many problems including cancer.
Applied research can be defined as the research that can be done scientifically. This
kind of research tends to provide practical recommendation and a solution for a particular illness.
Applied research is a method to solve a particular and practical issue of an individual group. This
type of analysis usually helps in curing disease by providing the basic structure of the research.
In the case of mental illness and AOD, the applied research mainly targets the psychological
illness due to addiction of alcohol and other drugs by doing scientific detailed critical analysis.
The main difference between the pure research and the applied research is that it provides clear
idea about the quality and measurements, which are administered by the healthcare units concern
about the mental health and the AOD health (Hu et al., 2014). Applied research differs from the
pure research as it also includes the other research analysis and pieces of evidence that can be
helpful for the evaluation of the solution of such kind of problems. The applied research contains
innovative service delivery methods. This research includes many strategies that is mainly the
subject-oriented and can be efficient by effective communication and patient advocacy
(DePoy&Gitlin, 2015).
It can be said that the pure research and applied research are different from each other in
many aspects. The pure research includes the essential databases and informations about the
concerned issue. The applied research mainly focuses on the critical evaluation of the solution of
the relevant issue (Creswell& Creswell, 2017). Applied research can include model and
structures to help in the transparency of the case scenario with all the necessary data. The pure
investigation only concerns with the generalised facts and information such as causes,
pathophysiology, diagnosis and results. Pure research may sometime involve requirements about

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the applied research always includes the solution depending on the pieces of evidence of other
researches.

4EXPLORING RESEARCH IN AOD AND MENTAL HEALTH SECTOR
References:
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed
methods approaches. Sage publications.
DePoy, E., &Gitlin, L. N. (2015). Introduction to Research-E-Book: Understanding and
Applying Multiple Strategies. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Goodkind, M., Eickhoff, S. B., Oathes, D. J., Jiang, Y., Chang, A., Jones-Hagata, L. B., ...&
Grieve, S. M. (2015). Identification of a common neurobiological substrate for mental
illness. JAMA psychiatry, 72(4), 305-315.
Henderson, C., Evans-Lacko, S., &Thornicroft, G. (2013). Mental illness stigma, help seeking,
and public health programs. American journal of public health, 103(5), 777-780.
Hu, X., Waller, L. A., Lyapustin, A., Wang, Y., Al-Hamdan, M. Z., Crosson, W. L., ...& Liu, Y.
(2014). Estimating ground-level PM2. 5 concentrations in the Southeastern United States
using MAIAC AOD retrievals and a two-stage model. Remote Sensing of
Environment, 140, 220-232.
Steen, J. T., Kravitz, T., & Straussner, S. L. A. (2017). Lessons learned from a web-based study
of mental health and alcohol and other drug problems among social workers in the
USA. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 1-6.