During 6 months of outpatient treatment, longer adherence to DIS and consultations as well as more phases in a consultation involving necessarily a co-responsible predict a good outcome independently of the patient features at admission.

Objective:The main goal of this work was to produce a review of educational strategies to prevent diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. Method: PubMed database was consulted using combined descriptors such as [Prevention] Results: A total of 8,908 articles were found, of which 1,539 were selected about diabetes mellitus (DM, n=369), arterial systemic hypertension (ASH, n=200), and obesity (OBES, n=970). The number of free full text articles available was 1,075 (DM = 276, ASH = 118 and OBES = 681). In most of these studies, demographic characteristics such as gender and age were randomized, and the population mainly composed by students, ethnic groups, family members, pregnant, health or education professionals, patients with chronic diseases (DM, ASH, OBES) or other comorbidities. Group dynamics, physical activity practices, nutritional education, questionnaires, interviews, employment of new technologies, people training and workshops were the main intervention strategies used. Conclusion:The most efficient interventions occurred at community level, whenever the intervention was permanent or maintained for long periods, and relied on the continuous education of community health workers that had a constant interference inside the population covered. Many studies focused their actions in children and adolescents, especially on students, because they were more influenced by educational activities of prevention, and the knowledge acquired by them would spread more easily to their family and to society.

The present study investigates physical health problems among patients with alcohol use disorders at alcohol treatment agencies in six European cities. The sample comprised 315 patients with a primary alcohol use disorder. Data were collected at admission to treatment using a structured research protocol, and ratings were made by a medically qualified physician subsequent to a physical examination of the patient. Physical health problems were extremely common: 79% of the sample had at least one problem, and 59% had two or more problems. Health problems were often serious, and 60% had at least one health problem that required treatment. The most common problems were gastrointestinal and liver disorders, but about a quarter of the sample had cardiovascular or neurological problems. Frequency of drinking, duration of alcohol use disorder, and severity of alcohol dependence were associated with increased physical morbidity. Current smoking status and age were also associated with poorer physical health. Older drinkers had more physical health problems although they were less severely alcohol dependent than their younger counterparts. The high prevalence of physical health problems among problem drinkers provides opportunities of screening for alcohol use disorders not only in specialist alcohol treatment services but also in other health-care settings. It is recommended that alcohol treatment agencies should provide a full routine health screen of patients at admission to treatment with provision or referral to appropriate treatment.

Consistently taking disulfiram is associated with good outcome, but this may reflect commitment to abstinence as well as a treatment effect.

SCT can result in better outcomes than TU in the outpatient treatment of alcohol dependence.

Estimates point to the existence of 60,000 heroin-addicted patients in Portugal. In this paper we present a study using a methodology, called sequential combined treatment, based on the following steps: (a) detoxification; (b) family assessment; (c) naltrexone, always administered to the patient by his parents; (d) family intervention and restructuring. Evaluation procedure included sociodemographic data, patient functioning, psychopathological aspects, depression, HIV check and urine sample analysis. Sixty-three heroin-abusing patients consecutively entering the program were studied. 70% of the patients adhered to the method and achieved 35.5 weeks of abstinence. After 1 year of treatment, 40% were still abstinent. Patient functioning and psychopathology also showed considerable improvement. Despite these encouraging results, further studies are necessary to evaluate this method within different groups of heroin addicts.

Given the clinical and social problems caused by the consumption of alcohol in most industrialised countries, there is a strong need to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of integrated care programmes. In this study, the authors describe the results observed in 124 sequentially admitted subjects at various points throughout the course of the first year after their discharge from the Southern Regional Alcohol-Abuse Treatment Centre (CRAS) in Lisbon, Portugal. An inpatient stay at this unit of CRAS lasts for between 5 and 7 weeks and implies that the patient must submit him/herself to a therapeutic model which has been adapted from the Minnesota model. At the end of the year under study 44.3% of the patients were still abstinent, 40.3% were consuming alcohol and 15.4% did not reply. 51 patients (41.1% of the initial sample) were still in regular contact with CRAS for further treatment at that point. The variable that was found to possess the most significant association with a favourable outcome was adherence to the therapeutic programme over the course of that year.