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Substance‐use disorders and psychological distress among police arrestees
Author(s) -
Heffernan Edward B,
Saunders John B,
Byrne Gerard,
Finn Joe
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2003.tb05617.x
Subject(s) - psychiatry , medicine , population , demographics , distress , cross sectional study , psychological distress , alcohol use disorders identification test , injury prevention , poison control , mental health , environmental health , clinical psychology , demography , pathology , sociology
Objectives: To determine the 12‐month prevalence of substance‐use disorders and psychological morbidity in an Australian arrestee population. Design: Cross‐sectional descriptive study. Participants and setting: 288 police arrestees at the Brisbane City Police Watch House in February and March 2001. Outcome measures: Prevalence of drug and alcohol disorders; psychological “caseness” according to the 28‐item General Health Questionnaire; demographics and index offences. Results: 86% of the arrestees had at least one substance‐use disorder; most had multiple disorders. More than 80% were substance dependent. The predominant substances used were amphetamines, marijuana, opioids and alcohol. 82% of the men and 94% of the women were suffering significant psychological distress. Conclusions: Development of services for detoxification and treatment of this population is a pressing need. The findings provide crucial information for the planning and implementation of drug courts and court diversion systems.

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