Primary healthcare approach to substance abuse management

Substance abuse is common amongst patients attending primary healthcare settings. Despite the substantial impact on one’s health, substance abuse is often underdiagnosed by primary care providers owing to a lack of training and time for screening. Self-reported screening tools are easy to administer...

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Main Author: Ramprakash Kaswa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AOSIS 2021-05-01
Series:South African Family Practice
Subjects:
Online Access:https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/5307
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author Ramprakash Kaswa
author_facet Ramprakash Kaswa
author_sort Ramprakash Kaswa
collection DOAJ
description Substance abuse is common amongst patients attending primary healthcare settings. Despite the substantial impact on one’s health, substance abuse is often underdiagnosed by primary care providers owing to a lack of training and time for screening. Self-reported screening tools are easy to administer and efficient to make a substance abuse diagnosis in primary care settings. Comorbid mental illness and intimate partner violence are common amongst patients presenting with substance abuse in primary care. An early diagnosis and a brief behavioural change counselling are effective in managing substance abuse before it develops into dependency. A brief motivational communication rather than a confrontation during substance abuse screening, counselling and treatment is important to achieve optimum patient outcomes.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 2078-6190
2078-6204
language English
publishDate 2021-05-01
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series South African Family Practice
spelling doaj-art-01cf43571bfe49ecaa725d55b51024272025-08-20T03:47:09ZengAOSISSouth African Family Practice2078-61902078-62042021-05-01631e1e410.4102/safp.v63i1.53074135Primary healthcare approach to substance abuse managementRamprakash Kaswa0Department of Family Medicine and Rural Health, Walter Sisulu University, MthathaSubstance abuse is common amongst patients attending primary healthcare settings. Despite the substantial impact on one’s health, substance abuse is often underdiagnosed by primary care providers owing to a lack of training and time for screening. Self-reported screening tools are easy to administer and efficient to make a substance abuse diagnosis in primary care settings. Comorbid mental illness and intimate partner violence are common amongst patients presenting with substance abuse in primary care. An early diagnosis and a brief behavioural change counselling are effective in managing substance abuse before it develops into dependency. A brief motivational communication rather than a confrontation during substance abuse screening, counselling and treatment is important to achieve optimum patient outcomes.https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/5307substance abuseprimary healthcare settingscreening toolsbrief behavioural change counsellingco-morbidity
spellingShingle Ramprakash Kaswa
Primary healthcare approach to substance abuse management
South African Family Practice
substance abuse
primary healthcare setting
screening tools
brief behavioural change counselling
co-morbidity
title Primary healthcare approach to substance abuse management
title_full Primary healthcare approach to substance abuse management
title_fullStr Primary healthcare approach to substance abuse management
title_full_unstemmed Primary healthcare approach to substance abuse management
title_short Primary healthcare approach to substance abuse management
title_sort primary healthcare approach to substance abuse management
topic substance abuse
primary healthcare setting
screening tools
brief behavioural change counselling
co-morbidity
url https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/5307
work_keys_str_mv AT ramprakashkaswa primaryhealthcareapproachtosubstanceabusemanagement