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Spice boys: an exploratory study around novel psychoactive substance use on a male acute ward
- Authors:
- PLACE Charlie, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Advances in Dual Diagnosis, 10(3), 2017, pp.97-104.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Purpose: Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) – often known as “legal highs” – are a varied group of substances that are causing concern due to their possible effects on mental health. Particular concerns have been raised about synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists often known as “Spice”. The purpose of this paper is to identify the prevalence of NPS use and explore any association with acute psychological disturbance. Design/methodology/approach: The authors reviewed the case notes for 153 admissions to a male acute inpatient ward. Prevalence of reported NPS use and admissions to psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) were recorded. Findings: In total, 18.9 per cent of individuals admitted to acute inpatient care were reported to have used NPS. NPS users were almost ten times as likely as their non-NPS using peers to require care in PICU. This result was statistically significant (Fisher exact test: p<0.001). Although caution is required given the limitations of this study, the data and clinical experience suggest that synthetic cannabinoids may be the specific type of NPS that is being used by this group. Practical implications: Mental health professionals can expect to care for people using NPS in acute inpatient environments, and so they need to understand the nature and effects of these substances. It is possible that NPS use may be associated with sustained acute psychological disturbance. Originality/value: There have been few studies on the prevalence of NPS use in inpatient environments and none of them have published that explore the association with PICU admission. Despite the limitations of this study, it has significant value by identifying an urgent need for comprehensive research in this area. (Publisher abstract)
Collaborative working to engage in assertive outreach service users in harm reduction
- Author:
- PLACE Charlie
- Journal article citation:
- Advances in Dual Diagnosis, 3(2), May 2010, pp.13-17.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Assertive outreach teams, established to provide intensive support to people with severe mental illness who have problems engaging with mainstream mental health services, work with some individuals who experience severe problems with psychosis and are also injecting drug users. This article describes, through case discussion, the initial steps made in a city-based assertive outreach service in Leeds to engage this group of service users, in collaboration with agencies that provide harm reduction interventions, to provide an individual harm reduction service to this vulnerable group. It covers identification of need, the dual diagnosis network in Leeds, the practicalities of the collaborative initiative between the assertive outreach worker and the harm reduction agency, and the shared approach. The author concludes that this small-scale pilot achieved its objective of providing harm reduction services to hard to reach individuals with serious and complex problems, and that assertive outreach teams and harm reduction outreach workers share a common ethos and can work well together.