Late childhood and adolescence are periods of experimentation, exploration, identity formation, risk taking, and assertion for independence in every person’s life. Naturally, the incidence o
Case Study Overview
“Late childhood and adolescence are periods of experimentation, exploration, identity formation, risk taking, and assertion for independence in every person’s life. Naturally, the incidence of drug abuse in children and adolescents is higher than the general population” (Jiloha, Indian Journal of Psychiatry, Jan-March 2017, pg. 111).
Suzanne is a 19 year old university student who has been struggling with heavy drinking ever since she started university in the fall. Based on the 2014 Canadian Campus Survey, 16% of university students reported heavy drinking and 32% met the definition for hazardous drinking. Suzanne fits well within this range.
Suzanne has come by the free “drop-in” counselling clinic to get some information and advice. Despite the fact that Suzanne is aware of the harmful effects of substance use, she continues with the behaviour. Suzanne tells the counsellor that the alcohol helps to calm her nerves and gets her through the night. She is highly stressed because of her university course load. In addition, she lives in residence where everyone drinks as part of the” normal” social environment. Suzanne feels the pressure to conform, particularly from her three best friends, all of whom consume alcohol weekly and occasionally use cannabis. These lifestyle habits are harming Suzanne both emotional and intellectually – she cannot focus on her course work and finds a lack of emotional stability in her moods. She wants to change. She is also somewhat ashamed of her behaviour and she knows that her parents, who are paying for her education, would not approve of how she is managing herself while at university.
A constant supply of alcohol is available from a group of students who sell it from their room in the residence. This makes for a very unhealthy university environment for Suzanne. The residence does not appear to have a prevention focus and enforcement of the residence policies towards alcohol consumption is sadly lacking.
The counsellor immediately thinks of harm reduction strategies including comprehensive prevention and control programs in the university and the larger community, targeting adolescents, their peers, their parents and other family members. She also knows that harm reduction is an interactive process where individuals must be engaged in self- management, in order to anticipate risky situations and come up with alternative actions to deal with their issues.
The counsellor has also learned from a study by Adlaf, Demers & Gliksman, (2015), that brief interventions for the college population are now being designed in a manner that potentially will allow large numbers of students to benefit. Web-based applications of brief interventions are a natural progression from the more traditional delivery provided in person or by mail. While based on a small sample, the study demonstrated the potential of Web-based applications to deliver, in a cost-effective and timely manner, “personalized” feedback tailored to the needs of the individual student based on detailed information provided by the individual student in an atmosphere of complete confidentiality and anonymity.
Suzanne needs immediate attention. The counsellor is now ready to create a holistic, harm reduction approach that will address Suzanne’s health behaviours and needs.
Questions:
Identify and explain the top three threats to Suzanne’s health?
From a harm reduction perspective, can you give me a sample of a health program based on the principles of harm reduction that will address Suzanne’s situation. Be sure to tailor your plan to Suzanne’s specific needs. Students should refer to the three approaches to substance abuse cited in the Paediatric Society’s Position Statement (reference: https://cps.ca/en/documents/position/harm-reduction-risky-health-behaviours https://academic.oup.com/pch/article/13/1/53/2648021?login=true)
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