Project Proposal/ Annotated Bibliography

Project Proposal

 

            My project proposal is regarding the epidemic in the United States regarding the increased rate of opiate addiction. I would like to create a service that would help individuals suffering with opiate addictions. I believe by becoming more educated on addiction will help find solutions for the cure of this disease. 

            The three questions that I would like to explore in my research paper are what are the causes of the increased rate of opiate addictions, what are the effects it has on the economy, and what are some ways to effectively treat individuals suffering with opiate addictions. I have found multiple articles that have studied non-prescription use of opioid prescriptions that will be helpful in discussing my proposal. I have found five articles that can be helpful. The article “Initiation Into Prescription Opioid Misuse Amongst Young Injection Drug Users” examines the premise into prescription opioid misuse amongst young individuals who are already injection drug users (Bloom, Jennifer Jackson, et al.). This article will help explore ways to prevent the misuse of prescription opioids. If we are well educated on the ways that opiate use is initiated we can educate the community and hopefully prevent opiate prescription abuse. The article “Denial of Prescription Opioids Among Young Adults with Histories of Opioid Misuse” discusses the effects of denying opioids to young adults suffering with pain who have a history of opioid misuse (Fibbi, Meghan, et al.). This article will help suggest ways into preventing relapse among those who suffer with issues related to pain. The article “Illicit Use of Opioids: Is OxyContin a ‘Gateway Drug’?” is about the Community Assessment of Substance Use in Maine (CASUM) study (Grau, Loretta, at el.). This article will be useful because it can help distinguish the group of individuals that are in the greatest need of help for their addiction to opiates. In the article “The Economic Burden of Opioid-Related Poisoning in the United States” discusses how opioid-related poisoning and mortalities are a burden to the United States Economy (Inocencio, Timothy J., et al.). This article will be useful in trying to motivate citizens in wanting to find ways to help individuals suffering with this addiction. In the article “Non-Medical Use of Prescription Opioids During the Transition to Adulthood: A Multi-Cohort National Longitudinal Study” discusses a research study that examined the longitudinal patterns of non-medical use of prescription opioids systemically during the transition of being a teenager to an adult (McCabe, Sean Estebal, et al.). This article will be helpful by showing the changes in the patterns of use over the years and associate these changes with ways in which individuals who are suffering from addiction can be helped.

            I hope to continue to do research to help support my proposal so that individuals suffering with the illness of addiction from opioids can be helped. Addiction is a true disease that needs to be addressed. By becoming more educated on the different aspects of opiate addictions, I believe will help lead to finding solutions on how to help these individuals find a cure to this disease.

Annotated Bibliography

Bloom, Jennifer Jackson, et al. “Initiation Into Prescription Opioid Misuse Amongst Young Injection Drug Users.” International Journal of Drug Policy 23.1 (2012): 37-44. Ebscohost. Web. 25 March 2015.

This article examines the premise into prescription opioid misuse amongst young individuals who are already injection drug users (IDUs). The researchers had a desire to study the patterns associated with the initiation into prescription drug misuse. This study revealed the fundamentals for the premise into prescription opioid misuse, consequential pathways into injecting opioids, and associations for current patterns of opioid and heroin misuse amongst a sample of young IDUs from Los Angeles and New York. The premise into prescription opioid misuse was aided by easy access to opioids from family members, friends, or the participant’s own prescription. The study revealed that most individuals transitioned from sniffing opioids to injecting opioids due to obtaining a more powerful high. The researchers concluded that current patterns of drug use begin with young individuals experimenting with prescription opioids before turning to heroin.

The strengths of this article is the fact that the researchers used more descriptive data, such as detailed information about initiation into prescription opioid misuse, regarding young IDU users, whereas previous studies only provided minimal data. This information will be useful for the project proposal because it will help suggest ideas on how to prevent misuse of prescription opioids, which will in turn prevent the illicit use of heroin. The weakness of this article is the fact that study participants were particularly only from New York or Los Angeles. If the researchers used study participants who were from more than just two cities in the United States, it would be a more efficient study. Unfortunately, this data only pertains to the cities of New York and Los Angeles and it is unclear if this data is comparable to other cities located in the United States.

 

Fibbi, Meghan, et al. “Denial of Prescription Opioids Among Young Adults with Histories of         Opioid Misuse”. Pain Medicine 13.1 (2012): 1040-1048. Ebscohost. Web. 25 March 2015.

This article studied the effects of denying prescription opioids to young adults suffering with pain who have a history of opioid misuse. This study was performed to show that the denial of pain medication to these individuals could result in these individuals relapsing on opioid substances and as a result, there should be effective pain management treatments to help these individuals who are at a high risk of relapsing. The study revealed that “approximately half reported self-medicating pain with either illegally obtain prescription opioids or heroin”.

The strengths of this article is the fact that it discusses reasons why there are relapses amongst recovering addicts. This article will be useful for my project because it suggests ways in which to prevent relapsing and that is by addressing those who have issues regarding pain. The weakness of this study is the fact that it was only conducted on individuals in Los Angeles and New York and as a result it is difficult to generalize the results of this study to the whole population.

Grau, Loretta, et al. “Illicit Use of Opioids: Is Oxycontin a ‘Gateway Drug?’.” The American             Journal of Addiction 16.1 (2007): 166-173. Ebscohost. Web. 25 March 2015.

This article is about the Community Assessment of Substance Use in Maine (CASUM) study. This study was conducted in Cumberland County, Maine due to the fact that Maine is reported to have a substantial issue with OxyContin. This study was conducted to test two hypotheses. The first hypothesis is that non-medical Oxycontin users are distinguishable from non-medical opioid users and the second hypothesis is that individuals who initiated non-medical opioid use with OxyContin had a greater chance of transitioning to heroin use. The study revealed that OxyContin users could only be distinguishable from heroin users. The study also revealed that use of multiple kinds of opiates within the first year of initiation was associated with quicker progression to heroin and injection drug use.

The strength of this study is that it distinguishes the fact that not one particular type of opiate results in a greater incidence of transitioning to heroin use. Another strength of this article is that it discusses the “physical, socio-emotional, and contextual factors” that are associated with non-medical OxyContin use. These strengths will be useful for my project because it can help distinguish the group of individuals that are in the greatest need of help for their addiction to opiates. A weakness of this study is that the study was only performed in one city in the United States. Because the study only focused on one city it is difficult to generalize the findings to the rest of the country.

 

Inocencio, Timothy J., et al. “The Economic Burden of Opioid-Related Poisoning in the United             States”. Pain Medicine 14.1 (2013): 1534-1547. Ebscohost. Web. 25 March 2015.

This article discusses how Opioid-related poisonings and mortalities are a burden to the United States Economy. This study was performed to “help evaluate the economic case for efforts to reverse or prevent opioid poisoning and its associated morbidity and mortality”. This study was conducted by collecting information from publically available databases regarding costs for the treatment of opioid poisonings in emergency rooms, inpatient settings, costs for ambulances, as well as costs for medications to help reverse the effects. The study found that the total costs were estimated at approximately $20.4 billion.

The strengths of this article is the fact that it addresses opiate addiction from a different perspective. Most studies are focused directly on individuals who struggle with opiate related addictions. This study focuses on how opiate addictions are affecting our economy. This article is away to help motivate citizens in wanting to find ways to help individuals suffering with this addiction. I will use this information for my project to help motivate individuals who do not suffer with opiate addictions to help support the cause of wanting to help individuals fighting addictions. One of the weaknesses of this study is the fact that information from Veterans Affairs Hospitals Systems was not included in this study. It would be helpful to know how much VA hospitals are affected by opioid-related poisonings so that interventions can be put in place for veterans.

McCabe, Sean Estebal, et al. “Non-Medical Use of Prescription Opioids During the Transition to Adulthood: A Multi-Cohort National Longitudinal Study.” Addiction 109.1 (2014): 102- 110. Ebscohost. Web. 25 March 2015.

This article is a research study that examined the longitudinal patterns of non-medical use of prescription opioids systematically during the transition of being a teenager to an adult. This study was performed to evaluate demographic and individual characteristics that are associated with the use of non-medical use of prescription opioids, as well as to examine other substance use that may be associated with the use of non-medical use of prescription opioids. The researchers studied high school seniors over a period of time. This study found that approximately one-third of the individuals who reported non-medical use of prescription opioids continue use beyond age 18 and also have increased chances of other substance use behaviors at ages 23 and 24.

The strengths of this article is the fact that the study included nationally representative samples of high school seniors. This means that the data collected from this article can be applied to multiple settings. Another strength of this article is the fact that high school seniors were followed over a period of time. This means that the article can provide and assess different changes and patterns that occur over the years. These strengths can help with the project because the information from this study can be applied to all areas of the country. Also, it can help by showing the changes in the patterns of use over the years and associate these changes with ways in which individuals who are suffering from addiction can be helped. A weakness of this article is the fact that there was not a lot of detail included regarding why there was a change of pattern of use over the years.