Polysubstance abuse among sexually abused in alcohol, drug, and gambling addiction treatment in Greenland: a cross sectional study

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the association between earlier sexual abuse and polysubstance abuse among persons in alcohol, drug and gambling addiction treatment in Greenland. The study included 431 individuals treated in 2017-2019. Data on exposure (sexual abuse), outcome (polysubstance abuse), and potential confounders (age, sex, school education, further education, labour market affiliation, physical abuse and emotional abuse) were extracted from The National Database on Substance Abuse Treatment. Polysubstance abuse was defined as both smoking cannabis more than once a week and having an AUDIT score >15. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs). In total, 61% reported having been sexually abused. Women were more often sexually abused and had more often been physically and emotionally abused when compared to men. Polysubstance abuse (OR 2.06, 95% CI: 1.22; 3.48) and cannabis abuse (OR 1.89, 95% CI: 1.20; 2.98), but not alcohol abuse, were more frequent in sexually abused when compared to non-victims of sexual abuse. This study found polysubstance abuse to be more frequent in sexually abused treatment seekers. It is recommended that the findings are taken into account in the planning of treatment services and in training of counsellors.

A qualitative study of the implementation and organization of the national Greenlandic addiction treatment service

“…Furthermore, the treatment service in Greenland was particularly interesting because of the lack of evidence-based knowledge about treatment in Indigenous populations in general, because the methods of MI and cognitive behavioral therapy specifically were new to addiction treatment in Greenland when implemented, and because of the high impact of addiction on public health and to human suffering in Greenland (1,2,4,16). So far, only a few studies have been published about the functioning and outcome of treatment delivered by Allorfik (17)(18)(19)(20). These studies primarily investigated specific aspects of the treatment and the characteristics of people attending treatment, not of the provision and the organization of the treatment service itself.…”

Diseño y validación de un cuestionario para la detección de Abusos Sexuales Infantiles en personas adultas con adicción

“…Además, suele darse mayor gravedad de la adicción y comorbilidad psicopatológica (Kim et al, 2017;Kuksis et al, 2017;Scoglio et al, 2021). A consecuencia de lo anterior, el riesgo de ideas o intentos suicidas es mayor en esta población (Fernández-Montalvo et al, 2019;Leth et al, 2021). Según la teoría de la automedicación (Khantzian, 1997), el uso de sustancias sería una forma de abordar las secuelas derivadas de esta experiencia.…”