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 Centre for Addictionand Mental Health |
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Research
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Population and Life Course Studies: Research Annual Report 2003Section Head: Dr. Edward Adlaf The overall goal of the Population and Life Course Studies Unit is to describe the extent of addiction and mental health indicators in the population and to monitor trends. This includes: providing and disseminating accurate and timely data about alcohol use, other drug use and mental health indicators among general and special populations; and monitoring and identifying risk and protective factors for alcohol use, other drug use and mental health indicators. By measuring addiction and mental health indicators, we provide the knowledge base for health professionals, program planners and municipal, provincial and national government bodies. This information can also help us target prevention and other programs and evaluate existing programs, policies and health objectives. The result is an information base that helps ensure needed programs are established in a timely and cost-effective manner. Our team of investigators includes epidemiologists, sociologists, psychologists, criminologists and historians. Investigators also serve as experts for international agencies such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations Drug Control Programme. Unit staff hold appointments with University of Toronto departments, including Public Health Sciences, Psychology, Psychiatry, Sociology and History. In the past year, we prepared the 14th cycle of the Ontario Student Drug Use Survey (OSDUS), the longest ongoing school survey in Canada, and began the fieldwork in February. We expect that almost 6,000 students from over 100 schools will participate in the survey. Some of the new issues that will be covered include work activity and related injuries, Internet gambling, non-medical use
of Ritalin® and the use of ketamine. The final report was released in November 2003. Along with Dr. Louis Gliksman and colleagues from the Universities of Montreal and Alberta and Dalhousie and Harvard universities, we have begun a three-year study of Canadian university undergraduates. This study, funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, will survey some 10,000 undergraduates throughout Canada. The study will investigate the determinants of outcomes such as heavy drinking, illicit drug use, mental health problems and gambling behaviours. 2003 OSDUS Report in PDF format Drug Use
Mental Health
We published seven eBulletins, our ongoing series of brief data overviews of substance use and mental health trends among Ontario students and adults. Topics included issues such as trends in rave attendance, binge drinking, student exposure to illicit drugs and suicide ideation. Among the results, we found that 11 per cent of Ontario students reported that they had seriously considered suicide during the past year. We also completed and released our electronic monitoring report: CAMH Monitor eReport: Addiction and Mental Health Indicators among Ontario Adults in 2001, and Changes Since 1977. The report describes the extent of alcohol use, drug use, mental health indicators and gambling problems, and provides a knowledge base for health professionals. Visitors to our Web page will find highlights of our survey research. Our staff have also been active in international research and training. We continue to train graduate students from the Faculty of Public Health, University of Applied Sciences (Hamburg, Germany), consult with and train staff at the National Drug Council of the Cayman Islands regarding their Cayman Islands Student Drug Use Survey, and collaborate with the DAVI (Drugs Alcohol and Violence International) study, a multi-site study involving researchers from Philadelphia, Montreal and Amsterdam. Gin Use in 18th Century London Dr. Jessica Warner's Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason, a book about the gin epidemic in eighteenth century England, received critical acclaim in both North America and Britain. The book has been reviewed in the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the London Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, the London Review of Books, BBC History Magazine and Forbes Magazine, among others, and it has also been featured on CBC Radio, BBC Radio and National Public Radio. Natural History Telephone Survey Dr. John Cunningham completed a representative, general population telephone survey of 3,006 respondents, exploring the natural history of alcohol problems. The survey contains a detailed assessment of current and prior alcohol problems, use of treatment and other social services, and demographic factors thought to be associated with recovery from alcohol problems. The survey also includes a qualitative interview component, asking people who have recovered from a drinking problem about their reasons for change. |
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Last updated: Aug 25, 2004 12:36 PM Published: Dec 13, 2011 6:36 PM ID#P5761 |