Faculty Bibliography

This study was undertaken to examine differences in caffeine and nicotine use between the psychiatric population and the addicted population in a private psychiatric inpatient facility. Eighty-six patients on an adult addictive disease inpatient unit and 80 patients on an adult psychiatry unit in a private psychiatric hospital were interviewed with regard to their use of nicotine and caffeine. In addition, demographic information and primary diagnoses were obtained from the psychiatric admission assessment in the medical record as listed by the admitting psychiatrist. Although there was little difference in psychiatric patients vs. chemically dependent patients with regard to the percentage of caffeine users, the chemically dependent individuals drank more coffee, soft drinks, and tea. A much greater percentage of the chemically dependent individuals also smoked cigarettes, although not in a greater amount than the psychiatric patients who smoked. Because group assignment was not random, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analyses were conducted to determine the independent associations of age, sex, education, and treatment population in predicting levels of caffeine and tobacco use. Even after controlling for demographic differences between the two samples, chemically dependent patients still reported higher levels of daily caffeine and tobacco use than patients on the general psychiatric unit.

The use of criminal justice authority is discussed as a possibility for keeping drug users in treatment to decrease drug use, decrease injection, and to reduce the spread of HIV. It is hypothesized that the perception of treatment and control is a central factor in the limited use of criminal justice authority by community drug treatment providers.

This article describes an Integrated Needs Estimation model which assesses needs for prevention services by combining measures of risk and resiliency for local areas. These estimates, based on data from surveys and social statistics, are used to design programs which foster resiliency and reduce risk, and to allocate resources based on local needs.

This primarily methodological paper compares self-reported recent cocaine use among recently admitted jail inmates (N = 375) with hair assay results screened for 90 days. Contrasts between self-reported use and hair assay results are examined with special attention to individual differences, interviewers' ratings of truthfulness for each respondent, and whether or not the respondent actually qualified as being substance dependent. Results showed that the likelihood of admitting cocaine use was positively related to having received drug misuse treatment before, and negatively related to being Hispanic. Evidence is also presented which indicates that the lower levels of disclosure among Hispanics may have been due to poorer communication. Interviewers proved to be relatively adept at discerning between truthful and nontruthful respondents. Finally, results are presented which suggest that, despite considerable underreporting among the overall sample, subjects who actually qualified as being substance dependent were much more likely to honestly report recent cocaine use.