Substance Use in the Life Cycle of a Disaster: A Research Agenda and Methodological Considerations

Considering the increasing frequency and magnitude of natural and human-made disasters, it is becoming more important to understand human responses to these events, including the ways they influence substance use. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration has recently acknowledged...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe American behavioral scientist (Beverly Hills) Vol. 64; no. 8; pp. 1095 - 1110
Main Authors Kopak, Albert M., Van Brown, Bethany
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2020
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Disaster management
Disaster relief
Disasters
Disorders
Drug use
Emergency preparedness
Health services
Life cycles
Medical treatment
Mental health
Mental health services
Prevention
Rehabilitation
Scarcity
Substance abuse
Substance abuse treatment
Substance use disorder
substance use
social vulnerability
preparedness
drugs
disaster response
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Summary:Considering the increasing frequency and magnitude of natural and human-made disasters, it is becoming more important to understand human responses to these events, including the ways they influence substance use. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration has recently acknowledged that the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders must be incorporated into disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, but there is a scarcity of empirical information related to how these approaches should be undertaken. This article provides an overview of prior work in this area to inform a broad, but nuanced research agenda. That agenda is organized according to key findings and various strategies that can identify, measure, and assess substance use in various stages of the life cycle of a disaster. We conclude with recommendations for policies that can enhance the research in this area while also informing the development of practices to monitor substance use disorders related to various disasters.
ISSN:0002-7642
1552-3381
DOI:10.1177/0002764220938109