I am so appreciative of the nurses and their colleagues who have continued to produce their scholarly work, even during these unsettled times. It is my pleasure to introduce this issue of the Journal of Addictions Nursing. In this issue, articles address a number of important topics in the addictions field including alcohol use disorders, opioid use disorders, tobacco use, and nicotine withdrawal. The official IntNSA position paper, "Women of Childbearing Age and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Prevention: A Position Paper," along with four columns, namely, Innovative Roles, Medial Watch, Pharmacology Corner, and Stories from the Field, also appear in this issue.
We begin with Cecilia Uga and her colleagues' paper, "Educating Nurses on the Use of the Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale to Improve Care of Adult Patients Undergoing Buprenorphine Induction." They state that participants in their program expressed increased knowledge, confidence, and satisfaction with the COWS screening instrument, which ultimately led to patients benefiting from the participants who had more skills and confidence in monitoring withdrawal symptoms postintervention. This is also the continuing education article for this issue.
Next is the article "Correlations between Stress, Depression, Body Mass Index, and Food Addiction among Korean Nursing Students" by Sung Hee Shin and colleagues. In their sample of nursing students, they found that about 7% of the students were classified as having a food addiction. Depression and stress combined were predictors of food addiction. They suggest that effective stress management and depression prevention interventions may be beneficial to prevent food addiction in nursing students.
The third article in this issue is by Dr. Chung and Dr. Lee entitled, "Risk Factors of Binge Drinking in Adults across Gender and Age Groups: Sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey." They conclude that interventions considering the differences in drinking characteristics and risk factors of binge drinking across age groups, as well as interventions focusing on the risk of binge drinking among young adults, must be developed in clinical settings and communities.
Next, in the article entitled "The Relationship between Prenatal Smoking Exposure and Telemere Lengths in Fetuses, Infants, and Children: A Systematic Literature Review," Dr. Holly Wei and her colleagues show that the impact of prenatal smoking on the health of unborn fetuses, infants, and children is an understudied area. Nonetheless, the findings of their review provide partial evidence that prenatal smoking can potentially affect the genetic biomarker, TL, and thus the health of fetuses, infants, and children. They conclude that the evidence confirms the current practice that pregnant women should be encouraged to stop smoking as soon as they become pregnant.
In "Prevalence and Risk Factors of Problematic Internet Use and its Relationship to the Self Esteem and Health-Related Quality of Life: Data from a High School Survey in Turkey," Fadime Ustuner Top and colleagues found that problematic internet use was found to be a common problem among high school students and was significantly correlated with self-esteem and health-related quality of life. They suggest that, to alleviate this public health problem, at-risk groups should be identified and timely management strategies and effective prevention programs should be established.
Dr. Jennifer Lynn Jones and colleagues, in "Empowering Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners to Expand Treatment Opportunities for Veterans with Opioid Use Disorders," shows the potential to increase veteran access to MAT by emphasizing education and empowering PMHNPs to initiate treatment. Providing education regarding the importance of buprenorphine treatment in the emergency setting and delivering information about the free waiver training facilitated workforce preparedness.
Dr. Premtip Thaveeratith and colleagues aim to evaluate the effects of a single bout of controlled deep breathing and a "three-part breathing" exercise on nicotine withdrawal symptoms, cigarette cravings, and affect in their project, "The Effect of Breathing Exercise on Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms, Cigarette Cravings, and Affect." Their results revealed that the three-part breathing exercise resulted in a lower negative affect scores relative to control and controlled deep breathing immediately after postintervention.
The "Nurse Led Body-Mind-Spirit (BMS) Based Relapse Prevention Intervention for People with the Diagnosis of Alcohol Use Disorder at a Mental Health Care Setting in India: A Pilot Study" by Sreevani Rentala and colleagues is next. Findings provide evidence that the body-mind-spirit intervention reduced craving and drinking outcomes among alcohol-dependent individuals in India.
Dr. Vargas and colleagues examine "Health Professionals' Attitudes toward Alcoholism and Associated Issues: A Comparative Study in a Brazilian Sample" in their article. They found differences in the attitudes of professionals from different professional groups, which may contribute to inconsistencies in the care provided for individuals with alcohol use disorders. The results of their study suggest that strategies regarding the training and continuing education of health professionals that consider the particularities of each profession should be instituted to improve professionals' attitudes, thus improving their ability to address issues related alcohol use disorders and encourage patients to engage in treatment.
Next, Dilek Ayakdas Dagli and colleagues examine "Stigmatization and Social Functioning Levels of Patients with Alcohol Use Disorders" in their article. They found that, in their sample of alcohol-dependent patients, these patients negatively stigmatize themselves and the functionality of their prosocial activity skills, along with their recreational activities, is inadequate. Furthermore, as their Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale scores increase, their Social Functioning Scale scores decrease.
I am thrilled to present the IntNSA position paper on "Women of Childbearing Age and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Prevention: A Position Paper" by Dr. Mahmoud and her colleagues. We acknowledge all those IntNSA members who participated in the interactive workshop and provided their valuable insights and suggestions for this work.
Finally, we have four columns in this issue. First, Joan Kub interviews Shannon O. Opie, DNP, APRN, ANP-BC, CARN-AP, for the Innovative Roles column. Carolyn Baird presents "ENDS aka Vapes and Public Policy" for Media Watch, whereas William Lorman wonders if quetiapine has become a novel drug of abuse in the Pharmacology Corner. Finally, Al Rundio's column presents Marik Moen article on "Two Nursing Outreach Interventions to Engage Vulnerable Populations in Care" in the Stories from the Field column.
As always, in these unsettled times, let us remember to support all those with mental health and substance use issues and the healthcare professionals who care for them. As the fall season begins, remember to get a flu shot and stay safe and healthy.