This unit is designed to introduce students to the often-thought-provoking range of issues that characterise the contemporary Alcohol and Other Drugs field, such as patterns of recreational or non-medical drug use in Australia, social and environmental factors relevant to understanding patterns of substance use, identifying harms analysis and evaluation of intervention for harms within the Harm Minimisation Framework.
Studies in Alcohol and Other Drugs are multi-disciplinary, drawing on research from psychology, nursing, social work, sociology, education, anthropology, criminology, economics, politics, Indigenous studies, law and popular culture. For this reason, this unit is relevant to students undertaking courses in any of these or related areas. Students will appraise the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of various approaches and develop an understanding of how each approach applies to diverse contexts.
