"I can't live like that": the experience of caregiver stress of caring for a relative with substance use disorder.

BACKGROUND: The impact of addiction extends beyond the individual using a substance. Caring for an individual with addiction creates persistent stressful circumstances that cause worry, anger, depression, shame, guilt, anxiety, and behavioral problems within the family unit. THE AIM OF THE STUDY: The paper aims to explore the experiences of caring for a relative with a substance use disorder (SUD) and self-care strategies caregivers employ. METHODS: The study adopted an exploratory qualitative design. To be included in the study, participants were required to have a relative with a (SUD) disorder and not be actively using the substance themselves. Individual interviews were conducted to gather their experiences, meanings, and how they made sense of caring for a relative with a SUD. RESULTS: Twenty one participants were involved in the study, of which 17 were women, and four were men of which there had a sister, four had a brother, eight had a parent, six had a dependent, and one participant had a grandparent with a SUD. Four themes, whose overarching focus is the pains of living and caring for a family with a SUD, caused the participants and how the participants mitigated these experiences CONCLUSION: The stress associated with caring for individuals with a SUD impacts the caregiver's physical and mental health. Specific care modalities targeting caregivers need to be developed to address the health impact and to support self-care.

School-based interventions for preventing substance use in indigenous children ages 7-13: a scoping review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Throughout the world, indigenous peoples share traumatic colonial experiences that have caused gross inequalities for them and continue to impact every aspect of their lives. The effect of intergenerational trauma and other health disparities have been remarkable for Indigenous children and adolescents, who are at a greater risk of adverse mental health and addiction outcomes compared with non-indigenous people of the same age. Most indigenous children are exposed to addictive substances at an early age, which often leads to early initiation of substance use and is associated with subsequent physical and mental health issues, poor social and relational functioning, and occupational and legal problems. The aim of this paper is to report the protocol for the scoping review of school-based interventions for substance use prevention in Indigenous children ages 7-13 living in Canada, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. This scoping review seeks to answer the following questions: (1) What is known about indigenous school-based interventions for preventing substance use and (2) What are the characteristics and outcomes of school-based interventions for preventing substance use? METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This scoping review will use steps described by Arksey and O'Malley and Levac: (1) identifying the research question(s); (2) identifying relevant studies; (3) selecting the studies; (4) charting the data; (5) collating, summarising and reporting the results and (6) consulting with experts. Our findings will be reported according to the guidelines set by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics review approval is not required for this project. Findings from this study will be presented to lay public, at scientific conferences and published in a peer-reviewed journal.