Alcohol and Drug Issues

Topics

Families & Parenting

• Identifying parental substance use and misuse in clinical practice, (2008) Professor Sharon Dawe, Family Relationships Quarterly Newsletter No. 7, Australian Family Relationships Clearinghouse.
• AFRC Family Relationships Quarterly No.7, Literature Highlights - Parental Substance Abuse (2008).
• The Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) and the Australian Drug Foundation (ADF) developed eight fact sheets during April 2008 that support parents to protect children from harms associated with alcohol use.
• The Living with Drugs in the Family Project (2007) is being undertaken by the Melbourne School of Social Work to explore the needs and issues for siblings of illicit drug users.
• Australian Parliament House Standing Committee on Family and Human Services Inquiry into the impact of illicit drug use on families (2007).
• The role of families in preventing alcohol-related harm among young people (2008), Bernadette Ward and Pamela Snow / Drug Info Clearinghouse. This report argues for the provision of resources, guidance and appropriate referrals to help parents focus on factors that reduce the likelihood of young people engaging in risk-taking behaviour.
• Young people and alcohol: the role of cultural influences (2008), Ann M. Roche and others / National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction. This report comprises a comprehensive literature review addressing a wide range of social and cultural factors that potentially impact on young Australians aged 14-24 in relation to their use and non-use of alcohol.
• Improving outcomes for children living in families with parental substance misuse: What do we know and what should we do (2008), Sharon Dawe, Paul Harnett and Sally Frye / Australian Institute of Family Studies. This paper provides an overview of the research literature in this area and argues that we need accurate mechanisms for estimating the extent of the problem and policies that include a focus on children and families within the drug and alcohol field.

Health & Wellbeing

• The Australian Drug Foundation's Drugs and their effects brochure (2008) is available in nine community languages to assist recent migrants from African and Asian countries. Limited quantities of the translated brochures are available free of charge for community organisations within Australia.
• Drug Info Clearinghouse Prevention of harm from alcohol consumption in rural and remote communities, (2008) issues paper by Ged Dibley, PDF Management Services, provides a description of some of the issues facing rural and remote communities around Victoria in relation to alcohol-related harms. It also explores the range of practical prevention and early intervention strategies available to them to prevent and reduce such harms.
• Fitzroy Valley liquor restriction report: an evaluation of the effects of a six month restriction on takeaway alcohol relating to measurable health and social benefits and community perceptions and behaviours (2008), L. Henderson-Yates and others / The University of Notre Dame Australia and The Drug and Alcohol Office. Presents the findings of an evaluation of the impact of a liquor license restriction introduced in Fitzroy Crossing in October 2007 by the Director of Liquor and Licensing. 
• Prevention and early intervention of methamphetamine-related harm (2008), Amy Pennay and Nicole Lee, DrugInfo Clearinghouse. While there is little research evidence on the effectiveness of particular strategies for methamphetamine prevention, there are some local and national programs currently being implemented around Australia that are based on some of the key principles identified in this paper as good strategies for prevention.

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