Law no. 281, enacted by the Italian Parliament in 1991, was the first that aimed at managing urban free-roaming cats living in colonies, without killing and/or moving them from their site. It had been anticipated by the Lazio Regional Law no. 63/1988 and subsequently refined by the Lazio Regional Law no. 34/1997. These laws introduced: (i) the cats' right to live free and safe; (ii) the compulsory neutering of cats by the Veterinary Services of the Local Health Unit; (iii) the institutionalization of cat caretakers. Within this context, this paper intends to evaluate the effects of the application of the Italian laws on management of urban free-roaming cats for the years 1988 to 2018. To this end, some indicators have been built and applied to our activity data: number of censused colonies and number of cats; number of stable colonies due to neutering; number of hygiene and sanitary notifications; number of notifications to check cat welfare; number of bites by unowned free-roaming cats; number of notifications of cat poisoning. The number of citizens' requests for institutional interventions by public veterinary services in cat colonies management and, accordingly, the detection of cat colonies yet unknown, seem to confirm the interest of people to control the cat colonies in Rome in a humanitarian way, as evidenced in our data. This fact/phenomenon should be analyzed in its multiple dimensions, also including the many changes and social unrests which have affected the human-cat relationship in the last 30 years.
Evidence-based methods of screening for and intervening with substance use are necessary to improve mental health treatment for the millions of individuals who use substances, yet practitioners rarely received training in these methods. Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) is an evidence-based practice that provides practitioners with a set of skills and standard method for screening and providing early intervention for risky substance use. The present study implemented and evaluated a 2-part SBIRT training program for 87 students in mental health counseling, clinical, counseling, and school psychology graduate programs at 1 institution. We evaluated students' satisfaction with the training as well as the impact of the training on students' knowledge of motivational interviewing (MI) and SBIRT and self-efficacy to implement SBIRT. We also evaluated whether completion of a booster training would increase knowledge, self-efficacy, and clinical practices beyond gains observed from the initial training. A pre-, post-, and 30-day follow-up repeated-measures design was used to assess changes in MI and SBIRT knowledge, SBIRT self-efficacy, and use of SBIRT skills. Results suggest that a 2-part SBIRT training program delivered to counselors in training can increase their knowledge of MI and SBIRT as well as their self-efficacy to deliver SBIRT. The overwhelming majority of students were satisfied with the training and found it to be relevant and useful. In response to calls for training mental health professionals to work with substance-using clients, results indicate the SBIRT training model can advance this effort.
Public Significance StatementMost people in need of substance use treatment in the United States do not receive it. Screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment is an effective method for identifying and providing early intervention to those with substance use disorders. Findings from this study indicate that a face-toface and online booster training increase health service psychology trainees' screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment knowledge, self-efficacy, and use of the skills in practice.
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