BACKGROUND: The role of physicians is crucial in the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders and addiction. The quality of addiction-specific medical education varies, as do postgraduate and continuing medical education programmes in different countries. In order to ensure a high level of quality education, it is necessary to name and define competency-based quality standards that enable physicians to provide the highest quality care to patients.

METHODS: The objective of the study will be the identification of quality standards in competency-based postgraduate and continual...

BACKGROUND: The dropout rate from the treatment of patients with substance use disorders (SUD) negatively affects overall treatment outcomes. Little is known about the specific role of various psychiatric and psychosocial factors in the individual patients. Limited data is available in regards to mindset and addiction treatment, giving the opportunity of testing such interventions in the future.

AIM: To identify the key psychological, psychosocial, and other treatment related factors in the patients from the inpatient substance use treatment with addiction who have dropped out of the...

INTRODUCTION: In recent years, the governments of several countries around the world have focused on consumption taxes, which they use from two important points of view – the first point of view is the state budget, where through the increase of the point of consumption tax, revenues to the budget are increased. The second, no less important point of view is health and the environment. These political goals and the structure of consumption taxes as a means of influencing the consumption behavior of the population are, in many ways, the same in OECD countries. However, the difference is in the...

BACKGROUND: Heated tobacco products along with electronic cigarettes represent the current trend in nicotine use. These novel products are appealing to teenagers and young adults especially. Generation Z representatives are characterized as native digital and internet users who are exposed to online marketing intensively including tobacco and nicotine products marketing. AIM: The purpose of this study was to explore how Generation Z perceives the promotional techniques of HTP products (IQOS and glo) in the Czech Republic.

METHODS: We conducted qualitative research using semi-structured...

INTRODUCTION: Smoking and tobacco products are long-term tolerated and socially accepted in many societies. In some socioeconomic groups and regions, this is considered standard practice. One of the ways to limit not only direct but also secondary smoking is an increase in the tax burden and an effective antismoking campaign. Adults exposed to secondhand smoke have a higher chance of acquiring coronary heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer as they age. Secondhand smoking has significant negative effects on the cardiovascular system and has been related to coronary heart disease and stroke in...

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of gender-based violence (GBV) among women who use drugs (WWUD) is reportedly two to five times higher than among those who don’t use. This study aimed to analyse GBV experienced by WWUD in 6 EU countries.

METHODS: A survey was carried out with 261 WWUD, and additionally, 492 professional staff working with WWUD were surveyed. Fifteen focus groups with WWUD and staff and 120 interviews with staff and key informants were also conducted.

RESULTS: WWUD reported a high lifetime prevalence of GBV (97.69%) of all types and in many contexts. Migrant, ethnic...

Background
Data concerning driving under the influence of alcohol (DUIA) are frequently characterised by their lack of availability, accuracy, or reliability. This inherent limitation poses challenges in the examination of the influence of alcohol policies on road traffic outcomes. The study pursued a dual objective:

1) delineating the methodologies employed in evaluating road traffic outcomes attributable to alcohol policies in instances where DUIA data are absent, and

2) scrutinising the impact of alcohol policies under conditions of missing DUIA data.

Methods
A scoping review was...

Background: Physical health problems are common in people receiving opioid agonist treatment (OAT). A study was conducted on these health issues in OAT patients in the Czech Republic and Norway from 2010 to 2019, with a focus on gender differences.

Methods: In this study, it was a population-based cohort study that linked multiple health records to investigate physical diseases (using ICD-10 codes) in patients receiving OAT in the Czech Republic (4,280 patients) and Norway (11,389 patients) from 2010 to 2019. A gender-stratified analysis was performed.

Results: The study found that both...

In this bulletin, data on treated problem alcohol use for the year 2022 are presented, followed by trends for the seven-year period from 2016 to 2022.

The data are from the National Drug Treatment Reporting System (NDTRS), the national surveillance system that records and reports on cases of drug and alcohol treatment in Ireland.

Included in the NDTRS are cases treated in all types of services: outpatient, inpatient, low threshold, general practitioners (GPs), and those treated in prison.

INTRODUÇÃO: Na Espanha, a oferta de programas de prevenção é muito variada e estruturada, mas hoje o desafio continua sendo como colocar evidências em prática. A Comissão Europeia define uma boa prática como "uma política ou intervenção relevante implementada num contexto da vida real que foi avaliada favoravelmente em termos de adequação (ética e evidências) e equidade, bem como eficácia e eficiência relacionadas com o processo e os resultados". O objetivo do estudo foi descrever o Projeto Espanhol do Portal de Melhores Práticas em Redução da Demanda de Drogas e Vícios Comportamentais (o...

INTRODUÇÃO: A ciência da prevenção e as normas de qualidade da prevenção da toxicodependência na UE e no mundo desenvolveram-se nas últimas décadas. Registaram-se progressos no desenvolvimento da qualidade na Croácia, mas a experiência do processo de melhoria do domínio da prevenção da toxicodependência e da aplicação de normas de qualidade na Croácia não foi descrita em pormenor na literatura. Este estudo de caso é um exemplo de adaptação do QS europeu e do surgimento de outros componentes de garantia de qualidade no campo da prevenção da dependência na República da Croácia. O estudo descreve...

BACKGROUND: Implementing quality measurement is still a challenge in the field of drug treatment and harm reduction. In this case study, we investigate which strategies can be used to enhance the implementation of a policy in which quality indicators are made public.

METHODS: Building on an evidence-based methodology, this case study shows how an organisation in Flanders – the Flemish Institute for Quality of Care – develops quality indicators along with its strategies to implement the measurement of the indicators.

RESULTS: The study shows three types of quality indicators in the field...

INTRODUCTION: In the favourable political climate of the mid-2010s, the standards for Assessment & Selection of Prevention programmes Issued from the Review of EDPQS (ASPIRE) were developed to support project planning in drug prevention.

METHODS: This case study is a narrative from the main coordinator responsible for drafting this quality assurance material.

RESULTS: The framework that led to the creation of the ASPIRE standards is described. The production process is then explained and, thereby, the 12 ASPIRE standards resulting from it are presented. These quality standards and their...