Findings bulletins: treatment figures, domestic abuse, brief interventions lessons & prison recovery

Recent bulletins from the Findings drug and alcohol bank:

Drug and alcohol treatment in England 2016/17

Analysis of the performance of England’s drug and alcohol treatment system up to 2016/17. With the help of 21 charts, it examines the falling numbers, ageing caseloads, the puzzle of waning success with opiate users but increasing with drinkers, the steep drop in new young opiate patients, and how deeply treatment has penetrated the population of dependent opiate users and drinkers.

Interventions at the intersection of heavy drinking and domestic abuse

What role does alcohol play in initiating or exacerbating controlling and abusive behaviours in intimate relationships, and from the individual to the population level, is there any evidence that interventions to reduce the harms of drinking can also reduce domestic abuse? This review sheds what light research can throw on ‘hidden’ forms of alcohol-related violence given scant attention in contemporary UK national policy.

Involving the right people to spot the barriers to delivering brief interventions

The DrinkThink screening and brief intervention for risky drinking was developed with young people (the intended beneficiaries), but not with professionals. Despite the potential of the intervention, delivery was impaired by obstacles spanning training, working cultures, and attitudes about young people’s drinking.

Sharp drop-off in support on leaving prison undermines ‘recovery wing’ model

Even if prison substance use services were five-star, without a home, job, and supportive social network for prisoners to return to, the investment could ultimately amount to nought. This is the caveat around the Drug Recovery Wing evaluation which found on the one hand considerable reductions in drinking, drug use, and self-reported offending six months after leaving prison, and on the other, big gaps in support leaving prisoners feeling unprepared to sustain their recovery in the community.