Substance use and problem awareness among drug-involved prisoners in Norway

Abstract

A sample of 110 drug-involved offenders from two prisons was assessed regarding drug and alcohol consumption, problem awareness, ambivalence and treatment readiness. Of these, 56% reported hazardous alcohol consumption and 53% highly problematic drug use. Highly problematic users reported more problem awareness and more cognitive dissonance regarding change. Treatment readiness was rated higher by problematic users as compared to users reporting fewer problems. The influence of prison environment on ambivalence needs to be studied longitudinally after imprisonment. Identification of drug-involved prisoners should be done systematically, including assessment of alcohol consumption. Opportunities for substance misuse treatment in prisons should be increased.

The Norwegian Offender Mental Health and Addiction Study – Design and Implementation of a National Survey and Prospective Cohort Study

“…3,7 Thus, imprisonment can represent a period of stability to many repeated offenders, with reduced exposure to social problems and substance use. 8 The period immediately following prison release is particularly vulnerable. Overdose risk is especially high during the first two weeks post release [9][10][11] as tolerance is much lower compared to pre-imprisonment levels.…”

Targeting problematic users of illicit drugs with Internet-based screening and brief intervention: A randomized controlled trial

“…In a Norwegian sample of drug-involved prisoners the internal consistency was shown to be excellent with a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.95 for positive aspects of using drugs and 0.92 for negative aspects. For the treatment section, Cronbach's alpha indicated good internal consistency with a value of 0.84 (Lobmeier, Berman, Gossop, & Ravndal, 2012).…”

Psychometric Properties of the Polish version of the Drug-Use Disorders Identification Test

“…As established during subsequent general population surveys in Poland -and across Europe as a whole -males are more likely than females to report using drugs [1]. Drugs are most commonly used by young adults, mainly those aged [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. Since drug abuse is among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in young adults, mea-sures helping with early identification of high-risk groups are very useful.…”

“…As determined so far, the DUDIT can be a useful tool for drug misuse screening. The questionnaire has been successfully used in many studies, and a validation process has, thus far, been conducted in at least 8 countries: Sweden [9,20,21], Norway [22][23][24][25], the Netherlands [26,27], USA [28,29], Hungary [17], South Africa [30], Turkey [15,16], and Morocco [18]. The DUDIT scale was developed by Anne Berman in Sweden.…”