A feasibility trial to examine the social norms approach for the prevention and reduction of licit and illicit drug use in European University and college students.

BACKGROUND: Incorrect perceptions of high rates of peer alcohol and tobacco use are predictive of increased personal use in student populations. Correcting misperceptions by providing feedback has been shown to be an effective intervention for reducing licit drug use. It is currently unknown if social norms interventions are effective in preventing and reducing illicit drug use in European students. The purpose of this paper is to describe the design of a multi-site cluster controlled trial of a web-based social norms intervention aimed at reducing licit and preventing illicit drug use in European university students. METHODS/DESIGN: An online questionnaire to assess rates of drug use will be developed and translated based on existing social norms surveys. Students from sixteen universities in seven participating European countries will be invited to complete the questionnaire. Both intervention and control sites will be chosen by convenience. In each country, the intervention site will be the university that the local principal investigator is affiliated with. We aim to recruit 1000 students per site (baseline assessment). All participants will complete the online questionnaire at baseline. Baseline data will be used to develop social norms messages that will be included in a web-based intervention. The intervention group will receive individualized social norms feedback. The website will remain online during the following 5 months. After five months, a second survey will be conducted and effects of the intervention on social norms and drug use will be measured in comparison to the control site. DISCUSSION: This project is the first cross-national European collaboration to investigate the feasibility of a social norms intervention to reduce licit and prevent illicit drug use among European university students. FINAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: DRKS00004375 on the ‘German Clinical Trials Register’

Illicit substance use among university students from seven European countries: A comparison of personal and perceived peer use and attitudes towards illicit substance use

Objective: To compare European students' personal use and approval of illicit substance use with their perceptions of peer behaviours and attitudes, and investigate whether perceptions of peer norms are associated with personal use of illicit substances and attitudes. Method: This study used baseline data fromthe Social Norms Intervention for the prevention of Polydrug usE (SNIPE) project involving 4482 students from seven European countries in 2012. Students completed an online surveywhich included questions on personal and perceived peer illicit substance use and personal and perceived peer attitude towards illicit substances. Results: 8.3% of students reported having used illicit substances at least once in their life. 49.7% of students perceived that the majority of their peers have used illicit substances more frequently than themselves. The perception was significantly associated with higher odds for personal illicit substance use (OR: 1.97, 95% CI: 1.53–2.54). The perception that the majority of peers approve illicit substance use was significantly associated with higher odds for personal approval of illicit substance use (OR: 3.47, 95% CI: 2.73–4.41). Conclusion: Students commonly perceived that their peers used illicit subtances more often than themselves. We found an association between the perceived peer norms/attitudes and reported individual behaviour/ attitudes

Student estimations of peer alcohol consumption: links between the Social Norms Approach and the Health Promoting University concept.

The Social Norms Approach, with its focus on positive behaviour and its consensus orientation, is a health promotion intervention of relevance to the context of a Health Promoting University. In particular, the approach could assist with addressing excessive alcohol consumption

Personal and Perceived Peer Use of and Attitudes Toward Alcohol Among University and College Students in Seven EU Countries: Project SNIPE.

The objective of this study was to explore perceptions of peer substance use and related attitudes among European students. Challenging perceptions about peer substance use has become the basis of a form of prevention and intervention known as the social norms approach, which can be delivered using personalized online feedback. This article reports baseline alcohol use and attitudes data for university students across Europe collected as part of the Social Norms Intervention for the prevention of Polydrug usE project (Project SNIPE)

Social norms regarding alcohol use and associated factors among university students in Turkey

Background: Misperceptions on the higher rates of peer alcohol use are predictive of increased personal use among university students. Objectives: This study aims to assess the prevalence, perceived peers’ social norms and other predictors of alcohol use in a sample of Turkish university students. Methods: This study is established upon the baseline Turkish data on alcohol use of the project Social Norms Intervention for the prevention of Polydrug usE (SNIPE). The data was obtained by a self-reported, online questionnaire from 858 students of Marmara University who were registered to the study web page. Results: Alcohol use and drunkenness rates were 62.6%, and 40.9%, respectively. Twenty point two percent of students reported drinking alcohol at least once a week in the last two months. Majority of students (70.4%) reported that religion has an important or very important role in their lives. Perceived higher frequency of peer alcohol use (p<0.000) and drunkenness (p<0.000) were significantly associated with personal alcohol use frequency. Tobacco use rate was 60.2% and positively associated with alcohol use frequency (p<0.000). In all participants, male gender (OR: 1.56; 95% CI: 1.07-2.28), giving less importance to religion (OR: 20.91; 95% CI: 10.95-39.95), tobacco use everyday/almost everyday (OR: 17.88; 95% CI: 9.33-34.29), perceived positive peer attitude towards alcohol use (OR: 2.192; 95% CI: 1.25-3.82) and perceived higher frequency of peer alcohol use (OR: 3.487; 95% CI: 1.66-7.31) were found to be associated risk factors for alcohol use. Age (OR: 1.186, CI 95%: 1.03-1.36) and perceived positive peer attitude towards alcohol use (OR: 3.86, CI 95%: 1.84-8.09) were the additional risk factors among female student whereas perceived positive peer alcohol use frequency (OR: 8.08, CI 95%: 2.40-27.10) among male students. Discussion: As the first study conducted in Turkey applying social norms theory, our results indicate the noticeable misperceptions of students regarding their peers’ alcohol use. Based on our results, targeting both tobacco and alcohol use, and a gender-sensitive approach employing social norms interventions may enhance the preventive strategies for risky alcohol use among university students

Estimating high risk cannabis and opiate use in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir

Aims. Information on high risk drug use in Turkey particularly at the regional level is lacking. The present analysis aims at estimating high risk cannabis (HRCU) and high risk opiate use (HROU) in the cities of Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir. Design and Methods. Capture-recapture (CRC) and multiplier methods (MM) were applied based on treatment and police data stratified by age and gender in the years 2009 and 2010. Case definitions refer to ICD-10 cannabis (F.12) and opiate (F.11) disorder diagnoses from out- and inpatient treatment records and illegal possession of these drugs as recorded by the police. Results. HRCU was estimated at 28,500 (8.5 per 1,000; 95%-CI: 7.3-10.3) and 33,400 (11.9 per 1,000; 95%-CI: 10.7-13.5) in Ankara and Izmir, respectively. Using multipliers based on CRC estimates for Izmir, HRCU in Istanbul was estimated up to 166,000 (18.0 per 1,000; range: 2.8-18.0). CRC estimates of HROU resulted in 4,800 (1.4 per 1,000; 95% CI: 0.9-1.9) in Ankara and multipliers based on these gave estimates up to 20,000 (2.2 per 1,000; range: 0.9-1-7) in Istanbul. HROU in Izmir was not estimated due to the low absolute numbers of opiate users. Discussion and Conclusions. While HRCU prevalence in both Ankara and Izmir was considerably lower in comparison to an estimate for Berlin, the rate for Istanbul was only slightly lower. Compared to the majority of European cities HROU in these three Turkish cities may be considered rather low

THE IMPACT OF JOB SATISFACTION ON ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION LEVELS AMONG UNIVERSTY PHYSICIANS

Doktorlarda depresyon, intihar ve madde kullanımı riski yüksektir. İş doyumu ve stres gibipsikososyal etmenlerin mental sağlık üzerine etkileri olduğu bilinmektedir.Amaç: Bu çalışmanın amacı üniversite hastanesinde çalışan hekimlerde depresyon veanksiyete düzeylerinin belirlenmesi ve iş doyumunun etkisinin incelenmesidir.Yöntem: Çalışmada Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi\'nde çalışan ve sistematikörnek seçme yöntemi ile seçilen 300 hekime anket dağıtıldı, 153 hekimden yanıt alındı (%51,0). Sosyo-demografik ve çalışma yaşamı ile ilgili soruların sorulduğu, kapalı zarflardadağıtılan ve iki hafta sonra toplanan ankette depresyon ve anksiyete ölçümünde HastaneAnksiyete ve Depresyon Ölçeği kullanıldı. İş doyumunu değerlendirmek üzere tek bir soruile 1 ile 10 arasında derecelendirmeleri istendi ve işaretlenen puanlara göre iş doyumudüşük, orta ve yüksek olarak sınıflandırıldı.Bulgular: Yüksek anksiyete ve depresyon görülme sıklığı sırasıyla %18,9 ve 27,4\'tür. İşdoyumu ve anksiyete arasında anlamlı bir ilişki saptanmamıştır (p=0,239). İş doyumu düşükolanlarda, cerrahi bilimlerde çalışanlarda ve asistan konumunda çalışanlarda depresyondüzeyi anlamlı olarak yüksek bulunmuştur (p<0,0001).Sonuç: Hekimlerde anksiyete ve depresyon düzeyleri yüksek bulunmuştur. İş doyumu vedepresyon arasında ilişki saptanmıştır. Hekimlerin iş doyumları mental sağlıkları, kurumlarıve hastaları için önemlidir. İş doyumu bireysel bir sorun olarak değil kurumsal olarakdeğerlendirilmeli; izlem sistemi oluşturularak ileriye yönelik ve girişimsel çalışmalara olanaksağlanmalıdır.Studies have shown that physicians have an increased risk of mental health problemsincluding depression, suicide and substance abuse. Job satisfaction and job stress mightaffect physicians mental well being.Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the level of anxiety and depression ofmedical doctors working in a university hospital and whether job satisfaction has an impacton level of anxiety and depression.Methods: The study was completed with 153 physicians those systematically selectedfrom university medical faculty. The response rate was 51,0%. Hospital Anxiety andDepression Scale was used to measure anxiety and depression. The study group was ratedtheir job satisfaction by a continuous scale ranged one to ten. Then tertiles were calculatedin order to categorize the job satisfaction as low, modest and high.Results: Anxiety prevalence wasfound to be 18.9% and depressionwas 27.4%. Job satisfaction did notalter the anxiety levels (p=0.239).Depression were significantly higher inthe least job satisfied physicians (p<0.0001).Conclusion: Job satisfaction is an important issue for physicians\' mental well-being, theirinstitution and patients. Hence it should be considered not as an individual problem but asan organisational one. Surveillence systems should be established which allow follow-upand interventional studies

Negative Consequences of Substance Use in European University Students: Results from Project SNIPE

Background: University students are a risk group for heavy substance use and the experience of various potentially severe negative substance use consequences which may impact on their health, social, and academic functioning. Whilst the experience of negative consequences of substance use is well understood in North American student samples, there is little data on these experiences in European students. In order to develop effective harm prevention and reduction interventions for students’ substance use, there needs to be an understanding of the types of consequences experienced in European student samples. Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and predictors of the experience of negative substance use-related consequences amongst university students in 7 European countries. Methods: University students (n = 4,482) in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Turkey, and the UK completed an online survey of their substance use behaviours and the experience of associated negative consequences. Results: European students reported that experiencing a hangover or illness, missing class, being short of money, and experiencing memory loss were the most commonly experienced negative consequences of substance use. Not living with other students and using alcohol, cannabis, sedatives, and cocaine were also associated with higher odds of experiencing these negative consequences. Conclusions: In contrast to North American data, European university students tended to experience consequences that are associated with lower level health risks rather than more severe consequences (e.g., drink-driving and physical injury). Harm prevention and reduction interventions for students should be targeted towards those consequences that are most salient to the target group to ensure feedback is relevant and potentially more effective in changing students’ substance use behaviours

Smoking Determinants in Turkish University Students

The aim was to explore the prevalence and the correlates of smoking in a group of Turkish university students. A sample of 1,870 students (21.2 ± 2.0 years old) completed the Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Anxiety Sensitivity Index, 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Smoking was highly prevalent (35.9%) in this sample. Male gender (OR = 2.72, CI 2.15–3.44), and parental smoking (OR = 1.41, CI 1.13–1.78) were factors associated with increased likelihood of smoking. Higher depressive symptoms and hopelessness levels were significantly related to smoking behavior. Smoking behavior might initiate as a mild and transient habit and unfortunately could become more serious and lead to an actual dependence. The results of this study show that it is necessary to pay attention to levels of depression and hopelessness, as well as parental influence