SI Template

Step 2: Reflection and SI Template

Step 3: Reflection, SI template with academic sources

Refs.

Historical factors:

What are the trends of illicit and recreational drug usage in Australia?

I feel that when it comes to the usage of drugs, Australia leads the world. Previously, men used to consume it more but now women are matching up with men consumption. It may be because women have got equal rights as men and this leads them to this drastic condition. I believe that the trends of drug consumption shows clearly the gender disparity is eliminating. After going through the trends, I believe that the strategies like family counselling could reduce the consumption of drugs among women and men, both. It will make them realise their responsibilities which considerably reduce the recreational substances usage. I feel that family trainings will also teach how drugs can spoil families and their future together. Education to families will make them realise their responsibilities and that is how they can leave the addiction of recreational and elicit substances.

 I found that some of the drugs are illegal, still they are been consumed in Australia and in other countries. The manufacturing of these drugs is legal and overdose of these drugs are life taking. I found that Australia is among the top countries which consume the recreational and illicit drugs the most. This increased the health care costs of the country.

In 1985, the National Drug Strategy commenced and in 1998 the use of these drugs fallen but the overall trend shows that there is an increase in the consumption of some of the drugs.

 This also increased a number of cases in the hospitals which are facing severe health issues due to high drug consumption.

As I thought, Australia is highest in the drug consumption and more than 40 per cent of the population consumes drugs illicitly. They do not even care about the prices. It changed my thoughts and made me believe that it is much bigger problem than I thought it would be.

• Germov, J, (2014). Social origins of food and alcohol habits. University of Newcastle.
• Australian Government. (2011). Drugs in Australia 2010. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
• Ting, I. (2015). Behind Australia's love affair with illicit drugs.The Sydney Morning Herald.

Cultural factors:

What are the cultural practices in Australia which confronts the usage of illicit and recreational drugs?

I have shown in my behaviour that illicit and recreational drug usage is not acceptable. It promoted health and participated in the health education programs so that I can teach people about the ill effects of the usage of drugs. Culture is an ideology which can bring a change in the practices of people. The cross cultural understanding is important to make people understand about the harmful consequences of drug usage. I believe that Culture of an individual is a cure which helps in producing better health outcomes.

The usage of dugs brings poverty, ill health and also leads to criminal activities. The usage of these recreational substances leads to the creation of more disadvantageous groups. I feel that culture forms the base of every individual which have a great impact on the learning and adaptability on the user. That is why, before forming or designing any harm reduction program for the users, the culture of an individual should be considered.

I learned by going through the sources that culture plays a very important part in influencing the usage of illicit and recreational drugs in Australia and in anywhere in the world. The impact of culture influences the treatment given to the ones who are addictive to the recreational substances. Culture is a kind of belief or behaviour which shapes the view of an individual and society. The usage of recreational and illicit substances differs between different social and cultural groups. I learned that most of the religions have established a code of behaviour which restricts the usage of such substances. Some of the cultural groups allow the use of drugs while others restrict it. The individuals who are more family oriented are seen having less usage of drugs. This made me learned that the culture have a protective effect on the individuals and their usage of recreational substances.

An individual should be identified by referring to his/ her cultural group, language and other cultural factors. It also depends on the cultural groups whether they seek to take treatment or not. It is seen that some cultural groups take treatment from the people of their own cultural group. So, it is clear that the culture should be used positively in treating the individuals.

• Germov, J, (2014). Social origins of food and alcohol habits. University of Newcastle.
• Dunlop, G. (2015). World drug map shows how Australia compares to others on recreational substance abuse.The Advertiser.
• Abbott, P. (2008). Culture and Substance Abuse: Impact of Culture Affects Approach to Treatment.Psychiatric Times.

Structural factors:

What are the social factors which influence the usage of illicit and recreational drugs in Australia?

As far as I believe Social factors plays key roles in influencing own beliefs and that of your groups and the use of recreational and illicit factors. I feel that the educational institutions, the medical profession, health care institutes, hospitals and care homes can teach and educate the individuals about the ill effects of the drug usage. This can be done with the help of government. Different local groups can be formed which can take up various programs and practices to promote health of the population.  The other practices may include per education, counselling, training and physical and mental exercises which shows considerable changes in the drug additive people.

The social factors include roles, relationships and society which influence the usage of recreational substances. The sources explain that generally people from lower economic classes are more addicted to the drug usage and they also have poorer health. The people who are drug dependent are likely to be unemployed and are excluded from the society. There are some social policies which can reduce the harm created by the usage of drugs. Big Pharma companies and the government can together adopt some practices which prevent people from illicit drug usage and promote their health.

It is found that the range of interventions shows improvement in the stigma which creates the disorders in the people to use recreational drugs. The self-stigma in the people can be reduced by therapeutic interventions like commitment therapy and acceptance in groups. Effective strategies can be adopted for treating this social stigma like providing motivation to the users and communicating with them by making they believe in the non-usage. This can be done by communicating positive stories of people who had same kind of disorders. Training and education programs will be required by the medical students and professionals to the drug users to bring a positive change in them.

There are social model of health in which various practices are taken up like running different life saving and prevention from drug programs which ultimately influence people to leave the dark path of drugs and get involved in the society.

• Germov, J, (2014). Social origins of food and alcohol habits. University of Newcastle.
• AIHW. (2011). Drugs in Australia 2010: tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
• Livingston, J. D., Milne, T., Fang, M. L. & Amari, E. (2012). The effectiveness of interventions for reducing stigma related to substance use disorders: a systematic review. National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Critical factors:

How can the ill effects of illicit and recreational drugs can be reduced to a great extent?

I believe that as a health and social care professional I have a responsibility to reduce the harmful effects on physical and mental health of a user by taking up certain practices. It is very difficult to convince the people for the treatment but I will try to provide complete support to the users. I should encourage them to carry on with the treatments provided in the healthcare organisations. It is very important to provide positive vibes to these users so that they can enjoy the activities in the treatment. The positive attitude can show speedy recovery among the users as it will be easy to grab whatever will be practiced for them.

The drug harm reduction programs can be designed which should be focused on the special needs of the patients. These programs should be effective and relevant to the needs of the user. The differences in culture, gender, usage of drugs and education should be considered before involving them in the programs.

The pharmaceutical industry has grown to a good extent and the interests of the industry rests in the welfare of the users. But the dominance of Big Pharma created conflicts in the interests of users and in the business. The pharmaceutical companies are placing profits above the health of patients. The companies are making enormous profits by selling the drugs which are not even needed by the users. There are certain alternatives for providing help to the drug addicted people. The psychologists, social workers and the counsellors can help with various therapies which help the users in getting free from drugs. The communities can be involved which can motivate to reduce the drug usage.

The social model of health is the approach in which the broader influences of health are addressed. It includes Social, cultural, environmental and economic factors. It is a kind of community approach to reduce the illness and diseases. It includes education, health promotion or policies which are used to reduce the societal fear and stigma of the drug addictive people.

There are various models of health which aims at preventing the health of users.

• Darton, K. (2016). Mental health effects of recreational drugs and alcohol.National Association for Mental Health.
• Germov, J, (2014). Social origins of food and alcohol habits. University of Newcastle.
• Edgar, A. (2013). The dominance of big pharma: power. National Center for Biotechnology Information.