Drug use and mental health

This week's ABC Radio National Health Report includes a discussion with Professor Steve Allsop, Director of the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University in Perth.

Professor Allsop has just launched a book he edited, "Drug Use and Mental Health", published by IP Communications. He says, "About 50% of the people who have mental health problems also have drug problems. It's a bit larger than that if people with drug problems also have mental health problems."

Treatment services for these people have been quite inadequate and there is a need to improve these services substantially. Allsop stresses the need for a more integrated approach to mental health and drug care, as well as the importance of the therapeutic relationship between patients and health care professionals.

Child and youth health - how is Australia faring?

"Making progress: the health, development and wellbeing of Australia's children and young people" is a report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
The report covers children and young people aged 0-19 years, and includes indicators for three different stages of development: infancy and early childhood; school age childhood; and adolescence. Information is presented on mental health, disability, risk factors for chronic disease, mortality, education, homelessness, crime, jobless families and family economic situation. Particular attention is given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and youth, and to how Australia compares internationally.
One of the disturbing findings from this report is that the number of teenage girls who have been admitted to hospital for intentionally hurting themselves has risen by a third over the last decade. On the other hand, mortality rates for children under the age of 20 has actually fallen by a third and this decline is greater for males than for females.

Join the Stretching Trial

Does stretching before or after exercise really reduce the risk of injury and muscle soreness? Apparently this has never really been proven.

The University of Sydney along with the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for Health Services are currently running The Stretching Trial, which is the first trial designed to test the effect of stretching before and after exercise in recreational athletes. It’s a fully online trial which means people can participate from anywhere in the world.

If you're interested in joining the trial, click on the link above. You need to have email and Internet access and be a regular recreational exerciser.

New Dementia Resources

The Minister for Ageing, Mrs Justine Elliot last week launched three new dementia training resources as part of Dementia Awareness Week (which is this week). More than 200,000 Australians currently live with dementia; of those, there are about 10,000 people with younger onset dementia. In addition, the number of people with dementia is set to increase to almost 465,000 by 2031. The three new resources are:

• Local Knowledge, a dementia care e-learning resource for rural and remote aged care workers.
• Strangers in a Strange Land: Cultural Competence in Dementia Care, which focuses on people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
• 2 Young 4 Dementia – Meeting the Needs of People with Younger Onset Dementia, which aims to support improved dementia awareness and care for younger people with dementia.

Copies of these resources are free - you just need to email mailto:dementia@health.gov.au

Report of trends in HIV and STIs in Australia

The National Centre in HIV Social Research at the University of NSW has just released the tenth in an annual series reviewing behavioural data relevant to the transmission HIV, viral hepatitis and other sexually transmissible infections.

HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections in Australia: annual report of trends in behaviour 2008 edited by John Imrie and Andrew Frankland, examines behavioural and attitudinal data relevant to the formation and evaluation of prevention strategies and to understanding individuals’ experiences of treatment of these infections. It also includes data relating to the social aspects of treatment and care of those infected with hepatitis C virus and HIV.

What is the ERIC database?

ERIC - the Education Resources Information Center - is an online digital library of education research and information. ERIC is sponsored by the US Department of Education and aims to "support the use of educational research and information to improve practice in learning, teaching, educational decision-making, and research."

If you're looking for information of an education nature, you'll find ERIC a useful adjunct to other databases you use on CIAP. It has recently been revamped to make the searching quite easy, and although American-based, it does include some Australian journals and research. Items go back as far as 1966 and a new batch is entered twice weekly. Best of all - there is no charge for using it!

Maternity Services Review

Improving Maternity Services in Australia : A discussion paper from the Australian Government forms part of a review from the Department of Health and Ageing, which will lead to a comprehensive plan for maternity services into the future.

The Review of Maternity Services, led by the Commonwealth Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer, Rosemary Bryant, aims to canvass a wide range of issues relevant to maternity services, including antenatal services, birthing options, postnatal services up to six weeks after birth, and peer and social support for women in the perinatal period. The government wants to ensure that all interested parties have an opportunity to contribute to the development of a National Maternity Services Plan and they areseeking submissions until the end of October from interested stakeholders in response to the paper.

Adherence to Mediterranean diet

The British Medical Journal reports this week that the Mediterranean diet, representing the dietary pattern usually consumed among the populations bordering the Mediterranean sea, has been widely reported to be a model of healthy eating for its contribution to a favourable health status and a better quality of life. Greater adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with a significant improvement in health status, as seen by a significant reduction in overall mortality (9%), mortality from cardiovascular diseases (9%), incidence of or mortality from cancer (6%), and incidence of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease (13%). These results seem to be clinically relevant for public health, in particular for encouraging a Mediterranean-like dietary pattern for primary prevention of major chronic diseases.

Big Week on the Health Calendar from the 15th

Next week is a big week on the NSW Health Calendar. Coming up from Monday the 15th of September is: Brain Injury Awareness Week, National Herbal Medicine Week, National Stroke Week, Sexual Health Week, and all of September is Dementia awareness month. On Friday the 19th of September is Diabetes Buzz Day. And at the end of September is World Retina Day organised by Retina Australia.

10 of the best research projects 2008

Australia has a proud history of producing groundbreaking health and medical research. This booklet, 10 of the best research projects 2008, showcases a selection of current projects and introduces some of the researchers who are continuing that tradition. Work on stem cells, diabetes, cancer, dental health and obesity in children are some of the research projects showcased here. Others include helping heal burns, making old wounds disappear, easing osteoarthritis and tackling male reproductive health. Together, these 10 represent the hundreds of highly successful international-standard projects the NHMRC funds each year.

New Nursing & Midwifery codes of ethics

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council has released the following new Professional Standards dated August 2008:
Code of Ethics for Nurses
Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses
Code of Ethics for Midwives
Code of Professional Conduct for Midwives

This is also the place to go for competency standards for RNs, ENs and Midwives.

Disabilities and OHS risks - no risk!

Su Mon Kyaw-Myint and others from the Office of the Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC) undertook this research and have recently released their report entitled: Are people with disability at risk at work? : A review of the evidence.

This report indicates that workers with a disability are not an increased occupational health and safety risk. The research findings suggest that workers with a disability have on average, a lower number of OHS incidents and have lower workers’ compensation costs, in comparison to other employees.

Welcome to Bandolier

Bandolier, an online journal about evidence-based health care, is back after time off to recharge their batteries. This month they are presenting evidence on addictions, focusing on what works and how difficult it can be to stop, all from recent and updated systematic reviews. The first issue of Bandolier was printed in February 1994. It has appeared monthly ever since and has become the premier source of evidence based healthcare information in the UK and worldwide for both healthcare professionals and consumers.
The Knowledge Library Reviews on other topics can found in the Knowledge Library section of their website. In this section Bandolier collects good quality evidence under a variety of different headings. They search for systematic reviews of treatments, of evidence about diagnosis, epidemiology or health economics, and abstract it.

Depression: latest New Zealand Guidelines

Mental disorders are extremely common in primary care and are a major cause of disability. The most common disorders across populations are anxiety, depression and substance abuse. A new guideline has recently been launched called 'Identification of common mental disorders and management of depression in primary care'. The guideline has a wide scope with separate chapters on young people (focussing on adolescents), adults, women in pregnancy and the postnatal period and older adults. The assessment sections of the guideline also provide guidance on when (and how urgently) to refer to secondary mental health services. The treatment sections of the guideline address the management of depression in primary care and algorithms are provided. The full guideline and the summary guideline are now available online.

Social Determinants of Health - Final WHO Report

The World Health Organisation has just released this report, authored by their Commission of Social Determinants of Health, which is led by Sir Michael Marmot. (If you refer to our posting of 22 August, you can follow the links to listen to Marmot speaking on this topic).

The report is entitled "Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the social determinants of health." Their blurb reads: 'Social justice is a matter of life and death. It affects the way people live, their consequent chance of illness, and their risk of premature death. We watch in wonder as life expectancy and good health continue to increase in parts of the world and in alarm as they fail to improve in others.'

Coaching and admission to medical schools

While on interesting journal articles, this study was published by Barbara Griffin et al in the latest issue of the Medical Journal of Australia. (Remember, you need to register for access to this journal, but it's all free). "Does practice make perfect? The effect of coaching and retesting on selection tests used for admission to an Australian medical school"
The study was based at the University of Western Sydney and concluded that coaching and retesting improved UMAT scores only slightly in the non-verbal reasoning section of the paper, and may even have hindered candidates' performance on an MMI.

The walking for your memory study

This Australian study found that walking for two and a half hours a week can significantly improve memory in the over-50's - you've probably heard about it on the news over the past couple of days. The trial divided 170 people, who had reported memory problems but did not meet criteria for dementia, into two groups. One group continued their usual activities while the other took part in a 24 week home-based physical activity program. By the end of the trial, participants in the exercise group performed better on cognitive tests and had better delayed recall. Not only that, but the effects were still evident six to twelve months after completing the trial.

Professor Nicola T. Lautenschlager led this "Fitness for the Ageing Brain Study," conducted over 18 months at the University of Western Australia. The full paper is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), 300 (9) : 1027-37, and is entitled "Effect of physical activity on cognitive function in older adults at risk for Alzheimer Disease : a randomized trial."

Use your CIAP username and password to access this article here.

Illicit drug use and serious drinking continue to fall in NSW

The National Drug Strategy Household Survey: State and territory supplement published on August 29 follows the Survey's First Results report released in April 2008. Minister for Health Reba Meagher said new figures show there has been a continued decline in illicit drug use and high risk drinking in NSW. The survey found:
*illicit drug use has fallen from 14.6 p% in 2004 to 12.1% for 2007
*cannabis use fell from 10.7% in 2004 to 8% for 2007
*methamphetamine use decreased from 3.1% to 1.8% in 2007
*ecstasy use remained steady at 3.4% for 2007.
For alcohol use the survey found:
*low risk drinking decreased slightly from 49% in 2004 to 48.1% in 2007
*high risk drinking fell from 32.2% to 2004 to 31.8% in 2007
*daily drinking decreased from 8.8% in 2004 to 8.3% in 2007.
The results are based on a survey of more than 23,000 Australians conducted in 2007, and provide profiles of drug use and community attitudes in each of the states and territories.