Interventions to addictive disorders

Introduction

Addiction to tobacco is a very common addictive disorder in the world today. This particular addictive disorder affects various population segments in the community. The five different population segments that can be affected by tobacco use disorder include the elderly, adolescents, young adults, pregnant women and children. For each population segment affected by the tobacco addiction disorder, a specific intervention mechanism can be used to ensure the problem is addressed. This paper suggests various intervention mechanisms that can be used for specific population segment in a bid to address and cure the problem of tobacco addition disorder.

Interventions for children with tobacco addictive disorders

The addiction to tobacco among the children who are school-aged has become quite common nowadays. With the addiction, children are unable to concentrate on their studies in school. They start performing poorly. Children who are addicted to tobacco smoking also develop grave diseases such as liver cirrhosis and lung cancer at a very tender age (Baker, Richmond, Haile, Psych, Lewin, Com and Wilhelm, 2006). These are killer diseases that are said to cause many premature deaths in children. Therefore, considering the adverse impact of addiction to tobacco smoking by children, it is imperative that interventions be implemented to reduce the vice and help kids grow up as responsible human beings. 

Assessment of the risk 

Many school-going children have been reported to be addicted to tobacco smoking. It is important to note that children are generally susceptible to smoking. Children who start smoking at their tender age are initiated into the practice by their parents, who practice the same habit. Children only ape what they see regardless of whether it is right or not. Moreover, children normally hold their parents as role models hence whatever they do is regarded as the right thing to them. They ape it and start getting addicted to it. Other factors that cause smoking in children include the low level of monitoring by parents or guardians. Parents of children are supposed to keep a close watch on the habits of their children to ensure that they are not left to engage in bad activities such as smoking. Parents who do not pay attention to the welfare of their children end up making it easy for the kids to start smoking tobacco. The exposure to tobacco promotions and advertisements as well as easy access to this product also leads to increased smoking habits among school-going children. 

Interventions 

Children must be stopped from using tobacco because it is quite harmful to their health and detrimental to their studies. There are various interventions for ensuring the addictive disorder of children is stopped. Studies have been conducted, where the various forms of intervention to stop the use of tobacco in children have been tested. Every type of intervention for the children depends on the level of tobacco addiction. One intervention tested in a study included giving families a packet of materials for the kids and their parents. The families received a video lasting for 20 minutes and with a viewing guide. The families then got one counseling call between 3 and 6 weeks of getting the written materials. Additionally, another call was made 14 months after the time of enrollment. This intervention was meant to shift the attention of the children from smoking tobacco. They would pay all their attention on the calls, which they waited for eagerly. This intervention can be applied today because it was proved to be very effective in stopping tobacco addiction. Moreover, its efficiency comes from the fact that it targets shifting the mind of the child from thinking about tobacco use. Children are naturally always anxious when promised something. They do not get their minds over it. This is the principle that this intervention applies in this case. 

Another intervention tested was creation of a tobacco-free office, where the children are then given messages that are highly against smoking of tobacco. The messages given to the children are pre-printed on the prescription forms. This intervention is also fairly effective because it discourages the children from liking tobacco. It is presented in a manner that is meant to scare the children from the vice. However, the most intensive intervention method the tobacco smoking addictive disorder in children is based on the universal tobacco use and problem-behavior avoidance within families. 

It is very easy to intervene and stop an addiction in the case of children because for them, the habit of smoking tobacco is copied from their parents. Therefore, the interventions in the case of children, simply targets the root causes of the addiction and eliminates them (Prochaska, Delucchi and Hall, 2004). It is very easy to have a child change from a given bad habit to a new one.

Interventions for adolescents with tobacco addictive disorders

The disorder of addictive smoking is rampant among the adolescents. The root cause for addictive use of tobacco among the adolescents is mainly peer-pressure. During adolescence, it is when a person is discovering new things in their life in order to usher in young adulthood. In the course of their life choices, the adolescents normally select things that are aimed at making them able to fit into a given class of people (Steinberg, Ziedonis, Krejci and Brandon, 2004). A lot of people spoil by starting to engage in tobacco smoking because of peer pressure and the need to be freely accepted into a certain group of friends. The adverse impact of this habit is poor health and even death. 

Assessment of the situation 

The rates of adolescent smoking were low during the 1990s, but increased in the 2000s with the penetration of information technology, particularly the internet. Currently, tobacco remains to be the cause of many preventable deaths among adolescents across the world. People, who start smoking during their adolescent stage in life, are likely to continue with this habit throughout the rest of their lives. This habit makes the productivity of an adolescent pupil to be zero. They grow up into irresponsible individuals. 

Intervention

It is very important that intervention strategies be applied to the adolescents who are found to have tobacco smoking addictive disorder. Screening for tobacco addiction in adolescent has been recommended. This has to be done whenever an adolescent person visits a physician. Routine screening for the addictive tobacco use disorder among the adolescents is very effective because it helps in quick identification of tobacco addictive disorder victims so that they can be stopped. Using the model of asking, advising, assisting and arranging tobacco cessation intervention has to be offered to the adolescents in good time (el-Guebaly, Cathcart, Currie, Brown and Gloster, 2002). For the adolescents who fit the criteria for nicotine replacement therapy, they have to be put under this service.

Interventions for young adults with tobacco addictive disorders

Young adults make up the population segment that is within colleges and universities. It is at this stage of life that an addict starts using tobacco quite intensively. At this stage, there is very minimal influence for one to start smoking. People in this segment of the population just make a conscious choice of smoking (Williams and Ziedonis, 2004). Their choice may be based on various reasons, which include stress in academics and lack of pocket money for upkeep at the campus. They also face the risk of getting diseases, which cause premature deaths. 

Assessment 

Most young adults start smoking tobacco at the age of 18 years old. The young adults have been termed to be vulnerable for the use of tobacco. They view smoking tobacco as a lifestyle that is very enjoyable. As tobacco companies market their products, a lot of the young adults get the urge of engaging in smoking tobacco (Pasco, Williams, Jacka, Ng, Henry, Nicholson and Berk, 2008). Young adults are very sensitive to nicotine and can quickly feel dependent on it as soon as they start using it. Most of the youths who smoke persistently die prematurely. 

Intervention 

Considering the effects of smoking and tobacco addictive disorders, interventions for the young adult victims must be implemented to save lives. Intervention strategies for the young adults include mass media campaigns against smoking. Moreover, the campaigns against smoking can also be conducted at the college level. The administration of the colleges can organize public lectures against smoking. The young adults in universities should then be encouraged to shun the habit of smoking because of its adverse effects. The mass media campaigns and public lectures in college as well as university conferences will entail explaining the side effects of smoking to the victims so that they can get the sense of abandoning the habit.

Interventions for pregnant women with tobacco addictive disorders

There are women who feel crave to smoke during pregnancy. They engage in this habit of addictive smoking without considering the impact it has to the health of the baby in the womb.

Assessment 

It is reported that many children are normally exposed to nicotine even before their birth. This habit causes miscarriages, premature birth and infant death. Furthermore, such children who are exposed to nicotine early do have poor health that is characterized by low body weight. They also develop respiratory challenges. Studies indicate that although a significant number of women normally quit smoking tobacco once they realize that they are expecting, 15% of them do not do the same because of addiction.

Intervention

Interventions must be implemented for pregnant women who have the addictive tobacco smoking disorder. The first intervention may include warning labels on the cigarette packets. The warning labels on the cover of the cigarette packets should include information about the dangerous harm of smoking to the baby for any pregnant woman. This is a very effective intervention because it will make many pregnant women stop smoking out of the fear of harming their unborn babies. Such women should also be subjected to pharmacotherapy, which is a combination of counseling and clinical medication. Imposing high taxes on the tobacco products is also another effective intervention strategy. 

Interventions for the elderly people with tobacco addictive disorders

The final population segment that may be targeted for tobacco addictive disorder is the older adults. There are elderly people who persist with the habit of smoking. At this stage of life, smokers are easily overcome by the effects of nicotine, which quickly kills them.

Intervention 

The best intervention for the elderly people with addictive tobacco smoking disorder is the nicotine replacement therapy. The elderly people have to given access to the nicotine replacement therapy for successful cessation of smoking tobacco. This method is effective because it involves counseling and gradual cessation process.

Conclusion

Tobacco use is very common in the modern society. Prolonged use of tobacco leads to addiction, which results into fatal and chronic diseases that cause many preventable deaths. Interventions must be implemented to ensure that the human population does not get extinguished as a result of uncontrolled smoking habits. 

References

Baker, A., Richmond, R., Haile, M., Psych, M., Lewin, T. J., Com, B., ... & Wilhelm, K. (2006). A randomized controlled trial of a smoking cessation intervention among people with a psychotic disorder.  American Journal of Psychiatry .

el-Guebaly, N., Cathcart, J., Currie, S., Brown, D., & Gloster, S. (2002). Smoking cessation approaches for persons with mental illness or addictive disorders.  Psychiatric Services .

Pasco, J. A., Williams, L. J., Jacka, F. N., Ng, F., Henry, M. J., Nicholson, G. C., ... & Berk, M. (2008). Tobacco smoking as a risk factor for major depressive disorder: population-based study.  The British Journal of Psychiatry ,  193 (4), 322-326.

Prochaska, J. J., Delucchi, K., & Hall, S. M. (2004). A meta-analysis of smoking cessation interventions with individuals in substance abuse treatment or recovery.  Journal of consulting and clinical psychology ,  72 (6), 1144.

Steinberg, M. L., Ziedonis, D. M., Krejci, J. A., & Brandon, T. H. (2004). Motivational interviewing with personalized feedback: a brief intervention for motivating smokers with schizophrenia to seek treatment for tobacco dependence.  Journal of consulting and clinical psychology ,  72 (4), 723.

Williams, J. M., & Ziedonis, D. (2004). Addressing tobacco among individuals with a mental illness or an addiction.  Addictive behaviors ,  29 (6), 1067-1083.