scholarly journals Changing Patterns of Substance Use During the Coronavirus Pandemic: Self-Reported Use of Tobacco, Alcohol, Cannabis, and Other Drugs

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annemieke Benschop ◽  
Floor van Bakkum ◽  
Judith Noijen

As in many other countries worldwide, the coronavirus pandemic prompted the implementation of an “intelligent lockdown” in the spring of 2020 in the Netherlands, including the closure of nightlife venues and cancellation of festivals. Such restrictions and social distancing could particularly affect people who use alcohol or other drugs in recreational settings and give rise to new challenges and additional needs in the field of addiction prevention and care. To monitor changes in substance use and provide services with practical directions for tailored prevention, an anonymous web survey was set up, targeting a convenience sample aged 16 years or older through various social media and other online channels. Between May and October 2020, a total of 6,070 participants completed the survey, mainly adolescents and young adults (16–24 years old). These data were used to explore and describe changing patterns in substance use. Overall results showed declined current use compared to “pre-corona,” but mask underlying variation in changing patterns, including discontinued (tobacco 10.4%, alcohol 11.3%, cannabis 16.3%, other drugs 30.4%), decreased (tobacco 23.0%, alcohol 29.1%, cannabis 17.4%, other drugs 20.7%), unchanged (tobacco 30.3%, alcohol 21.2%, cannabis 22.3%, other drugs 17.3%), increased (tobacco 29.6%, alcohol 32.1%, cannabis 32.9%, other drugs 25.3%), and (re)commenced use (tobacco 6.7%, alcohol 6.3%, cannabis 11.1%, other drugs 6.2%). Especially the use of drugs like ecstasy and nitrous oxide was discontinued or decreased due to the lack of social occasions for use. Increased use was associated with coping motives for all substance types. As measures combatting the coronavirus may need to be practiced for some time to come, possibly leading to prolonged changes in substance use with lingering “post-corona” consequences, timely and ongoing monitoring of changing patterns of substance use is vital for informing prevention services within this field.

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-221

On 1 February, Journal of Wound Care and the University of Huddersfield streamed the first of the live webinars on their Wounds Week channel ( www.woundsweek.com ). All sessions are now available to watch on-demand. With highly innovative topics, Wounds Week 2 gives a chance for the wound care community to come together in these difficult times and engage in key education, free of charge. The sessions had live question and answer sessions; participants asked questions of the experts, making them a key part of the event. The registration process takes just a minute. There's nothing to install or set up—simply register and fill out your details. Follow on twitter at #WoundsWeek


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Farzana Quoquab ◽  
Shazwani Binti Ahmad ◽  
Wan Nurul Syazwani Binti Wan Danial ◽  
Jihad Mohammad

Subject area This case can be used in marketing management as well as consumer behaviour courses. Study level/applicability This case is suitable to use in advanced undergraduate levels, MBA and MSc in marketing courses that cover topics related to market segmentation and marketing mix strategies. Case overview This case highlights the dilemma of an entrepreneur and a manager of a restaurant who were to take a decision about the sustainability of their restaurant business. Balqis Restaurant was owned by Danny who was a retiree from Telekom Malaysia. He wanted to open a restaurant business after he came back from his long holiday trip. He conducted market research to find a suitable place to open his Arabic restaurant. He assigned Waleed Masood Abdullah as the manager of Balqis Restaurant. Finally, in June 2010, he opened his long awaited restaurant at Gombak, Kuala Lumpur. The restaurant was known as Qasar before the name was changed to Balqis in 2015 because of copyright issues related to Saba’ restaurant at Cyberjaya. The restaurant was well managed under Danny’s supervision for 4 years and successfully won customers’ hearts and loyalty before he decided to give full responsibility to Waleed in March 2014. Danny trusted Waleed because he taught and trained him. However, under Waleed’s management, Balqis started to lose its customers. Waleed also started to branch out the restaurant to different places in different states; one in Ipoh, and the other in Perak. He invested much money on renovation for all three branches, but one of the restaurants closed down in September 2014. This is because of the fact that they could no longer bear the cost of operations for the restaurant. However, he failed to learn from the mistake; they set up another restaurant, which was in Kuantan, in the same month. The sales were not that encouraging but it did show gradual improvement; yet, they once again sold it to another Arab businessman. Waleed realized his failure in managing the restaurant business in August 2015. He again opted to open another new branch which was questioned by Danny. He was in a rush to open it by the end of December 2015 to ensure that the additional profits from the current restaurants could cover the variables costs if the new restaurants were launched. Based on that, the owner had to make a decision about whether a new branch should be opened or whether they should just retain their restaurant in Gombak. Expected learning outcomes The learning objectives of using this case are as follows. 1. Knowledge enhancement: to help students in understanding the problems faced by a restaurant in expanding its market; to make students aware that a properly blended marketing mix is the key to business success and to broaden students’ views and understanding in targeting the proper market segment in formulating an effective marketing strategy. 2. Skills building: to be able to identify the best marketing strategic decisions to manage the restaurant business for its survival and to develop students’ ability to analyse the existing situation to come up with a viable and effective solution. 3. Attitudinal: to help the students to have intellectual openness in accepting different ways of finding solutions for a particular problem and to assist students in making the right move at the right time. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 8: Marketing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 169-183
Author(s):  
Ankit Kashyap ◽  
Mehak Jonjua

‗The best argument against democracy is a five- minute conversation with the average voter‘ is a famous quote by Winston Churchill. The statement also indicates the success or failure in any form of government depends primarily on voters and not on parties or politicians. The sustenance of a government in a democratic set up and in the age of anti-incumbency is viable only if it has the mandate. The current government in the territory of India is thriving despite a strong effort by the opposition to come together and stand against the government. The last two Lok Sabha elections held in 2014 and 2019 in India has been exemplary from the perspective that it has largely been Bhartiya Janata Party versus all other political parties, unlike the previous election where there has been contest between ruling and opposition parties. This paper aims to review the functioning of the incumbent government in last five years from manifesto till its implementation. The paper also aims to review the different policies launched by the government and their outcome. The paper will also examine how the government took some landmark decisions that witnessed mass protest and may prove fatal in times to come.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Pfister ◽  
Nikola Koschmieder ◽  
Sabrina Wyss

Abstract Background Families living in poor socio-economic circumstances, already confronted with social and health inequalities, are often not reached by family-based addiction prevention services. Besides quantitative models and health literacy approaches, qualitative research is lacking that could shed light on the exact circumstances and processes that lead to hindered addiction prevention service uptake by these families. Drawing on the concept of candidacy, we therefore reconstructed how socio-economically deprived parents and their (pre) adolescent children in the German-speaking part of Switzerland (non-)identified their candidacy for family-based addiction prevention services. Methods Following grounded theory, we collected and analysed data in an iterative-cyclical manner using theoretical sampling and theoretical coding techniques. Sixteen families with children aged 10–14 years were interviewed in depth (parent/s and child separately). All but one family lived below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold. Results Socio-economically deprived families’ modes of recognizing and handling problems in everyday life were found to be core phenomena that structure the process towards (non) identification of candidacy for family-based addiction prevention services. Four modes anchored within socio-demographic resources were found: Families with mode A perceived their current life situation as existentially threatening and focused daily coping on the main pressing problem. Others (mode B) perceived prevalent multiple problems as normal (now); problems were normalized, often not recognized as such. In mode C families, problems were pragmatically recognized at a low threshold and pragmatically dealt with, mostly within the family. In mode D families, problems were constantly produced and dealt with early by the worried and anxious parents monitoring their child. From modes D to A, vulnerability increased concerning non-identification of candidacy for family-based addiction prevention services. Further, thematic relevance of addiction prevention, past experience with offers, integration in systems of assistance, strategies to protect the family, and families’ search for information influenced whether identification of candidacy took place. Conclusions Socio-economically deprived families differ in modes of problem construction and handling in everyday life; this differently opens up or closes routes to family-based addiction prevention. Addiction prevention practice should build on a bundle of diverse strategies for outreach to these families, stressing especially interventions on the structural and environmental level.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-53
Author(s):  
Kishore Purswani ◽  
Rekha Bharadwaj

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is one of the most preferred employers. Good HR practices, favourable individual development opportunities, an employee-friendly work environment and development opportunities makes it so. In fact, training and development has been at the core in the glorious journey of BHEL. Way back in the 1960s even before the factories came up, training schools (later known as Human Resource Development Centres–HRDCs) were the first to come up at BHEL plants in Bhopal, Hardwar and Hyderabad. BHEL takes pride in the fact that it was the first among the pioneers in Indian PSUs to establish an exclusive set-up for training people, when terms like OD/HRD were still new to HR professionals and academicians in India. In the present times of VUCAD2 (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous and digitally disruptive) business environment, this quest for learning–unlearning and relearning has become all the more important. Thus, BHEL has created Corporate Learning and Development (CLD) function with the underlying theme ‘Learn-Share-Develop for Tomorrow’ for ‘Creating BHEL of Tomorrow’. Through various interventions at various levels, we ensure that the prime resource of the organization–the human capital– is always in a state of readiness to meet the dynamic challenges posed by the fast changing environment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-332
Author(s):  
ROSANNA DENT

AbstractIn 1962 a team of scientists conducted their first joint fieldwork in a Xavante village in Central Brazil. Recycling long-standing notions that living Indigenous people represented human prehistory, the scientists saw Indigenous people as useful subjects of study not only due to their closeness to nature, but also due to their sociocultural and political realities. The geneticists’ vision crystalized around one subject – the famous chief Apöwẽ. Through Apöwẽ, the geneticists fixated on what they perceived as the political prowess, impressive physique, and masculine reproductive aptitude of Xavante men. These constructions of charismatic masculinity came at the expense of recognizing how profoundly colonial expansion into Mato Grosso had destabilized Xavante communities, stripping them of their land and introducing epidemic disease. The geneticists’ theorizing prefigured debates to come in sociobiology, and set up an enduring research programme that Apöwẽ continues to animate even four decades after his death.


2000 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly Bergstrom ◽  
Michael Ellis ◽  
Marilyn Keenan-Milligan ◽  
John W. Mucenski ◽  
Donald H. Williams

An invitational conference was held to plan a therapeutic interchange program for biotechnology products. The expanding use of biotechnology products has created new challenges and opportunities for organizations who want to implement these programs — with the dual goal of cutting costs and improving quality of care. Successful therapeutic interchange programs can use a variety of strategies, from gentle persuasion based on clinical effectiveness and cost savings to mandatory compliance and automatic substitution. After outlining risk-management considerations and motivations, as well as the barriers to the therapeutic interchange of biotechnology products, the participants identified the following key steps: (1) list biotechnology products that are potential candidates for therapeutic interchange; (2) establish an overall plan for therapeutic interchange programs; (3) select the specific biotechnology products that will be considered for therapeutic interchange; (4) devise a strategy for therapeutic interchange of the selected products; (5) implement the plan; and (6) track program success. The strategy must include a process for ongoing monitoring of clinical and economic outcomes to ensure that the program is meeting its objectives and provide feedback to program participants.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document