Illegal psychoactive substances and illicit prescription drugs are currently used on a daily basis all over the world. Affecting public health and social welfare, illicit drug use is linked to disease, disability, and social problems. Faced with an increase in usage, national and global policymakers are turning to addiction science for guidance on how to create evidence-based drug policy. Drug Policy and the Public Good is an objective analytical basis on which to build global dru...

Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity is a collaborative effort by an international group of addiction scientists to improve the linkages between addiction science and alcohol policy. It presents, in a comprehensive, practical, and readily accessible form, the accumulated scientific knowledge on alcohol research that has a direct relevance to the development of alcohol policy on local, national, and international levels. It provides an objective basis on which to build relevant policies ...

How can 'binge drinking' be explained and understood? Is alcohol consumption related to the particular cultural characteristics of some European countries? Should heavy drinking cultures be seen as a mainstream youth phenomenon or as marginal - and is this different in different countries? A team of leading researchers addresses these questions and more in their analysis of the alcohol consumption patterns of European young people. Alcohol consumption is an important marker of transition f...

Impact of Addictive Substances and Behaviours on Individual and Societal Well-being outlines an innovative and fascinating new framework for understanding the harm that addictive substances and behaviours can cause. Taking a holistic approach and with well-being as a central tenet, it demonstrates how using different methods can lead to a more just and evidence-based approach to dealing with addictions. Presenting the latest and most comprehensive research, the expert team of auth...

Commercial gambling is a recent historical phenomenon. It has developed into a profitable industry that supplies a range of recreational activities to its customers, and is a significant way of collecting money from players to distribute to companies, state budgets, and other beneficiaries. Many of these are civil society organizations, using the money for producing services in sports, culture, social work, and health care. However, gambling can also develop into pathological behaviour. Us...

Canada has long been recognized as a leader in the field of psychiatric epidemiology, the study of the factors affecting mental health in populations. However, there has never been a book dedicated to the study of mental disorder at a population level in Canada. This collection of essays by leading scholars in the discipline uses data from the country's first national survey of mental disorder, the Canadian Community Health Survey of 2005, to fill that gap.Mental Disorder in Ca...

In this volume, Elena Garralda and Jean-Philippe Raynaud aim to contribute to advancing awareness of child and adolescent mental health within an international framework that gives special consideration to problems arising in different contexts around the world and through expert views supported by empirical evidence and considering clinical implications.There is increasing recognition worldwide of the importance of child and adolescent mental health problems, of the distress and i...

Substance abuse disorders are among the most prevalent psychiatric disorders and are frequently comorbid with other psychiatric and health conditions and accompanied by social problems; however, they remain under-recognized and under-treated. Many physicians and mental health practitioners receive little-to-no training in the identification and treatment of these disorders. Approaches to their prevention include some of the major success stories in modern public health as well as some of t...

Homelessness & Health in Canada explores, for the first time, the social, structural, and environmental factors that shape the health of homeless persons in Canada. Covering a wide range of topics from youth homelessness to end-of-life care, the authors strive to outline policy and practice recommendations to respond to the ongoing public health crisis.This book is divided into three distinct but complimentary sections. In the first section, contributors explore how homele...

Public health social work is an interdisciplinary, epidemiologically oriented approach to improving human health and well-being. About one quarter of all social workers in the United States currently work in medical or public health settings, a number that is expected to increase significantly in coming years. This handbook, written and edited by respected leaders of the Social Work Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA), describes the rapidly expanding roles of public he...

Pharmacists are on the frontlines of public health. Their public-facing roles uniquely position them to identify and address emerging disease challenges, discrepancies in health literacy, and barriers to treatment in the communities they serve. In today's interconnected world, the clients consulting a neighborhood pharmacist are just as likely to hail from across an ocean as they are from around the corner. Fittingly, Introduction to Public Health in Pharmacy, Second Edition takes...

There are wide inconsistencies between, and even within, countries in how community-orientated care is defined and interpreted. The analysis presented in this book take as a starting point an evidence-based balanced care model in which services are provided in community settings close to the populations served, with hospital stays being reduced as far as possible, usually located in acute wards in general hospitals. The surprising conclusion from the research is that the same problems aris...