Document Type
Portfolio
Publication Date
2023
Abstract
Goal Statement: The goal of opioid prevention is to target teens and young adults to reduce or eliminate opioid use, misuse, and overdose. Significant Findings: The population of focus is teens and young adults who use or misuse opioids. The problem is that doctors, pharmaceutical companies, and policing have led to the use, misuse, and overdose in teens and young adults. Some key findings are that doctors' overly prescribing controlled substances because of their lack of education in pain management and knowledge of controlled substance misuse and addiction have contributed to teens' and young adults' use, misuse, and overdose of opioids (Jalali et al., 2020). Other key findings are that pharmaceutical companies' relentless advertisement tactics paint opioids in a positive light to doctors and patients, making them feel opioids are safe to take and prescribe. Pharmaceutical companies also giving doctors kickbacks to prescribe controlled substances and giving patients incentives such as discounts or free samples has increased supply and demand. Finally, policing policies are a key factor in teens' and young adults' opioid use because they criminalize teens and young adults with opioid problems instead of offering them treatment. For this reason, it is recommended that the Stage of Change Theory be used to resensitize these teens and young adults in the initiation stage to assist them in the progression from the pre-contemplation stage of change to the maintenance stage of change through the appropriate motivation (Raihan & Cogburn, 2023). It is also recommended that two programs be used: Promoting School-community-university Partnerships Enhance Resilience (PROSPER) and Big Brother, Big Sister, to assist in resensitizing these teens and young adults to reduce or eliminate opioid use, misuse, and overdose (Social Programs that Work, 2018). Research suggests that these two programs significantly reduced teens' and young adults' opioid use and misuse, so objectives, strategies, and interventions will be reviewed. Objectives/Strategies/Interventions/Next Steps: The objective is to reduce or eliminate teens' and young adults' opioid use and misuse. Therefore, strategies that will be used are the Stage of Change Theory to motivate these teens and young adults to change their risky behaviors that may lead to opioid use. Through the Stage of Change Theory, adolescents will progress from denial and ambivalence to preparing, putting into action, and maintaining abstinence from opioids and risky behaviors that may lead to opioid use. Some key interventions that will be used to eliminate these adolescents' opioid use and misuse are two programs: Promoting School-community-university Partnerships Enhance Resilience (PROSPER) and Big Brother, Big Sister. The teens and young adults will be placed in the programs based on the age range of puberty and the end of puberty. The teens and young adults will host and participate in a drug-free social event to be linked up with peers to discuss their risky behaviors and be given psychoeducation on opioid use and prevention. Also, minority adolescents will be a focal point of the strategies implemented by providing them counseling services in community centers, schools, and places of worship to enhance access to and the attainability of substance use services (Reese & Vera, 2007). Finally, other strategies that will be used is advocacy by petitioning Congress for the enactment of new policies and funding to support teens' and young adults' opioid use prevention and treatment. According to the ACA Code of Ethics (2014), A.7.a. advocacy, when appropriate, counselors should advocate for their clients on individual, group, institutional, and societal levels to address potential barriers that prohibit access to resources and the growth and development of clients.
