Substance Abuse and the North Carolina Latino/Hispanic Farm Worker Community - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 32
About This Presentation
Title:

Substance Abuse and the North Carolina Latino/Hispanic Farm Worker Community

Description:

Dependence is roughly equal to the terms alcoholic/ addict, and ... to understand that alcoholism and addiction is an equal opportunity problem; ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:113
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 33
Provided by: ago85
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: Substance Abuse and the North Carolina Latino/Hispanic Farm Worker Community


1
Substance Abuse and the North Carolina
Latino/Hispanic Farm Worker Community
  • Intervention and Treatment Strategies
  • 2007

2
Overview
  • One of the biggest dilemmas in working with
    the substance abusing Latino/Hispanic farmworkers
    in North Carolina lies in creating effective and
    efficient intervention and treatment strategies.
  •  

3
The Key
  • The key is early intervention

4
  • Visits to primary care facilities, local and
    community based organizations, including the
    faith community, all provide great opportunities
    to intervene with substance abusers at a
    relatively early stage in the disease progression.

5
  • The nature and intensity of alcohol-related
    problems vary according to consumption.
    According to the National Institute on Alcohol
    Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA)
  • Men No more than two drinks per day
  • Women No more than one drink per day

6
  • It is important for us to know and be familiar
    with drinking levels in order to gauge potential
    risk for developing more severe problems. Levels
    also can be discussed with individuals in the
    context of general health problems in which we
    can provide a non-stigmatizing opportunity to
    share valuable risk reduction information.

7
  • When the DSM-IV TR (Diagnostic and Statistical
    Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text
    Revised) refers to such diagnostic levels as
    substance abuse and substance dependence, it
    views them as points on a continuum on which
    patients use may vary.

8
  • Continuum
  • Experimentation (Early)
  • Use (Responsible)
  • Abuse (Problematic)
  • Dependence (Physiological)

9
  • In the DSM-IV
  • Dependence is roughly equal to the terms
    alcoholic/ addict, and
  • Abuse is synonymous with problematic drinkers.

10
  • The North Carolina Latino/Hispanic farmworkers
    is at high risk for experiencing severe
    psychosocial conflict because of family
    separation, different culture, self-imposed
    pressures to succeed and the lack of English
    proficiency.

11
  • In addition, having left behind family,
  • friends, and acquaintances who
  • constitute a support system, the migrant
  • often finds him or herself isolated and
  • without anyone to turn to during
  • periods of stress.

12
Screening for Substance Abuse
13
  • The goal of substance abuse screening
  • is to identify individuals who have or
  • are at risk for developing alcohol or
  • drug-related problems

14
  • And, within that group, to identify
  • individuals who need further screening
  • and assessment to diagnose their
  • Substance use disorders, and develop
  • plans to help and treat them.

15
  • Ceiba Counseling Center uses several screening
    tools and recommends using the CAGE screening
    tool and/or the Weinstein Alcoholism Tool to
    screen for substance abuse in most cases.

16
  • The CAGE and the Weinstein
  • Alcoholism Tool samples are
  • provided.

17
IDENTIFYING PROGRAM STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

18
  • Given the finding that a significant number of
    Latino/Hispanic substance abusers maintain close
    contact with their families and that they report
    a willingness to intervene with family members at
    risk, a good argument exists for using family
    members in both preventive and treatment-oriented
    programs.

19
  • Another reason for family-oriented
    prevention/treatment programs is that less
    acculturated Latinos may avoid sharing their
    problems outside the family circle.

20
  • Given the prevalence among traditional Latinos
    of personalismo (a preference for relationships
    with others in their social group), it might be
    advisable to have persons who are well known to
    the individual and respected in the community
    provide the intervention activities.

21
  • And, to do so from the low-key
  • perspective of "platica" (friendly
  • conversation).

22
  • For highly at-risk subgroups (e.g., injected
    drug users, frequent Emergency Room individuals,
    etc.) or for those who might reject using
    traditional social service settings, the
    preventive outreach activities may need to be
    carried out in areas where persons from such
    subgroups are most likely to be found (e.g.,
    living/ housing areas).

23
  • Taking personalismo into consideration,
    persons associated with prevention and treatment
    programs should consider personally providing
    information and motivational messages directly to
    the community through local meetings, community
    groups, and churches.

24
  • To this end, programs might consider using
    individuals who have had alcohol/drug related
    experiences as role models to discuss the
    negative effects of substance abuse, explain how
    they were able to change their lives, and
    describe the benefits they are experiencing as a
    result of this change.

25
Case Management
  • Your new intervention program may very well be
    a combination of a simple individual and/or
    group case management program.

26
  • Following are some suggestions.

27
  • 1. If you have a waiting area, for patients
    waiting to be seen, show culturally
    appropriate videos of various health related
    topics including substance abuse.
  • 2. Informative brochures and pamphlets about
    substance abuse, Drinking While Impaired (DWI),
    Teen Pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and other communicable
    diseases, and mental health information.

28
  • 3. Men and Women specific groups with a low key
    platica (friendly conversation) emphasis.
    Working from this perspective, prevention efforts
    might focus on providing support groups at
    convenient times and places. To stimulate
    attendance, dinner-time might be considered and a
    hot cultural meal might be served.

29
  • 4. Substance Abuse specific information and
    education sessions. Invite speakers from the
    local community to present and share information
    on substance abuse topics.
  • a. Signs and symptoms
  • b. Substance Abuse progression
  • c. Drugs of abuse
  • d. Medical/Physical complications
  • e. Substance Abuse and the family

30
  • 5. Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at or near your
    site.
  • 6. Explore local area resources already in
    place that you can partner with for a combined
    provider effort.
  • 7. Local community health fairs and festivals
    with Substance Abuse information and screenings.

31
Final Note
  • It is very important to understand that
    alcoholism and addiction is an equal opportunity
    problem that, those persons that continuously
    abuse alcohol and drugs will incur serious
    problems in their lives.
  •  
  • The Latino culture does not produce any more
    or any less alcoholics or addicts than other
    cultures.

32
Contact Information
  • Al Gonzalez, MA, LCAS, CCS
  • Ceiba Counseling Center, Inc.
  • 1001 Navaho Drive, Suite 150
  • Raleigh, North Carolina 27609
  • Office 919-873-1551 Fax 919-873-1512
  • ceiba_at_earthlink.net
  • www.ceibacounseling.org
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com