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Adaptive Designs for Sequential Treatment Allocation
by Alessandro Baldi Antognini Alessandra GiovagnoliAdaptive Designs for Sequential Treatment Allocation presents a rigorous theoretical treatment of the results and mathematical foundation of adaptive design theory. The book focuses on designing sequential randomized experiments to compare two or more treatments incorporating information accrued along the way. The authors first introduce the terminology and statistical models most commonly used in comparative experiments. They then illustrate biased coin and urn designs that only take into account past treatment allocations as well as designs that use past data, such as sequential maximum likelihood and various types of doubly adaptive designs. The book also covers multipurpose adaptive experiments involving utilitarian choices and ethical issues. It ends with adaptive methods that include covariates in the design. The appendices present basic tools of optimal design theory and address Bayesian adaptive designs.This book helps readers fully understand the theoretical properties behind various adaptive designs. Readers are then equipped to choose the best design for their experiment.
Adaptive Motion Compensation in Radiotherapy (Imaging in Medical Diagnosis and Therapy)
by Martin J. MurphyExternal-beam radiotherapy has long been challenged by the simple fact that patients can (and do) move during the delivery of radiation. Recent advances in imaging and beam delivery technologies have made the solution-adapting delivery to natural movement-a practical reality. Adaptive Motion Compensation in Radiotherapy provides the first detailed
Adaptive Oncogenesis: A New Understanding of How Cancer Evolves inside Us
by James DeGregori DeGregoriPopular understanding holds that genetic changes create cancer. James DeGregori uses evolutionary principles to propose a new way of thinking about cancer’s occurrence. Cancer is as much a disease of evolution as it is of mutation, one in which mutated cells outcompete healthy cells in the ecosystem of the body’s tissues. His theory ties cancer’s progression, or lack thereof, to evolved strategies to maximize reproductive success. Through natural selection, humans evolved genetic programs to maintain bodily health for as long as necessary to increase the odds of passing on our genes—but not much longer. These mechanisms engender a tissue environment that favors normal stem cells over precancerous ones. Healthy tissues thwart cancer cells’ ability to outcompete their precancerous rivals. But as our tissues age or accumulate damage from exposures such as smoking, normal stem cells find themselves less optimized to their ecosystem. Cancer-causing mutations can now help cells adapt to these altered tissue environments, and thus outcompete normal cells. Just as changes in a species’ habitat favor the evolution of new species, changes in tissue environments favor the growth of cancerous cells. DeGregori’s perspective goes far in explaining who gets cancer, when it appears, and why. While we cannot avoid mutations, it may be possible to sustain our tissues’ natural and effective system of defense, even in the face of aging or harmful exposures. For those interested in learning how cancers arise within the human body, the insights in Adaptive Oncogenesis offer a compelling perspective.
Adaptive Optics for Biological Imaging
by Joel A. KubbyAdaptive Optics for Biological Imaging brings together groundbreaking research on the use of adaptive optics for biological imaging. The book builds on prior work in astronomy and vision science. Featuring contributions by leaders in this emerging field, it takes an interdisciplinary approach that makes the subject accessible to nonspecialists who
Adaptive Protection of the Heart: Protecting Against Stress and Ischemic Damage (Routledge Revivals)
by Felix Z. MeersonPublished in 1991: This book explores the possibilities of protecting the heart against stress and ischemia through adaptation to intermittent hypoxia or to mild, nondamaging stress exposure. These possibilities are based on studies that show an increase in the potency and efficiency of stress-limiting systems when subjected to repeated stress actions, adaptation to high altitude hypoxia, or adaptation to increased physical loads. Any stress reaction is coupled with an activation of central and local stress-limiting systems, such as GABA-ergic, opioidergic, and serotonergic systems in the brain, as well as antioxidants, prostaglandins, and adenosine in executory organs. The book also presents the use of metabolites of stress-limiting systems rather than adaptation as a means to prevent cardiac arrythmias. It also discusses genetically determined deficiencies of stress-limiting systems and their role in the etiology of stress-induced diseases. Cardiologists and researchers studying stress and its effect on cardiovascular systems will find this book extremely useful.
Adaptive Radiation Therapy (Imaging in Medical Diagnosis and Therapy)
by X. Allen LiModern medical imaging and radiation therapy technologies are so complex and computer driven that it is difficult for physicians and technologists to know exactly what is happening at the point-of-care. Medical physicists responsible for filling this gap in knowledge must stay abreast of the latest advances at the intersection of medical imaging an
Adaptive Shyness: Multiple Perspectives on Behavior and Development
by Louis A. Schmidt Kristie L. PooleThis book examines the adaptive aspects of shyness. It addresses shyness as a ubiquitous phenomenon that reflects a preoccupation of the self in response to social interaction, resulting in social inhibition, social anxiety, and social withdrawal. The volume reviews the ways in which shyness has traditionally been conceptualized and describes the movement away from considering it as a disorder in need of treatment. In addition, it examines the often overlooked history and current evidence across evolution, animal species, and human culture, demonstrating the adaptive aspects of shyness from six perspectives: developmental, biological, social, cultural, comparative, and evolutionary. Topics featured in this book include:The study of behavioral inhibition and shyness across four academic generations.The development of adaptive subtypes of shyness.Shy children’s adaptation to academic challenges.Adaptiveness of introverts in the workplace.The role of cultural norms and values in shaping shyness.Perspectives of shyness as adaptive from Indigenous Peoples of North America.The role that personality differences play on ecology and evolution. Adaptive Shyness is a must-have resource for researchers and professors, clinicians and related professionals as well as graduate students in developmental psychology, pediatrics, and social work as well as related disciplines, including social/personality, evolutionary, biological, and clinical child psychology, anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies.
Adaptive Sports Medicine: A Clinical Guide
by Arthur Jason De LuigiThis first-of-its-kind text provides a comprehensive presentation and review of the unique aspects of adaptive sports medicine and adaptive athletes, who are increasingly active and prominent, not only individually and in local leagues and organizations but also in larger settings like the Paralympics. Divided into thematic sections, part one covers the history and natural course of the care, policies and laws that have been developed over the years for persons with disabilities, as well as the biomechanics and technology of wheelchair sports and adaptive sports prostheses. The medical considerations of the adaptive athlete comprise part two, including injury epidemiology, emergent care, and surgical and rehabilitative considerations. Part three, by far the most extensive section, discusses specific wheelchair and adaptive sports, including adaptive running, cycling, water sports and throwing sports, wheelchair basketball, softball and rugby, as well as adaptive combative and extreme sports. Selected topics, including event planning, advocacy and controversies such as doping, are covered in part four. A comprehensive yet practical text, Adaptive Sports Medicine is a go-to resource and will be an invaluable reference for any sports medicine or primary medicine practitioner working with this unique population.
Adaptive Sports Medicine: A Clinical Guide
by Arthur Jason De LuigiNow in a revised and expanded second edition, this unique book provides a comprehensive review of the unique aspects of adaptive sports medicine and adaptive athletes who are increasingly active and prominent, not only individually and in local leagues and organizations but also in larger settings like the Paralympics and Warrior Games.This book is divided into four thematic sections. Section one covers the history and natural course of the care, policies, and laws for persons with disabilities, as well as the biomechanics and technology of wheelchair sports and adaptive sports prostheses. The medical considerations of the adaptive athlete comprise section two, including epidemiology, emergent care, and surgical and rehabilitative considerations. Section three is the largest section, discussing considerations for specific adaptive sports, including adaptive running, cycling, water sports, throwing sports, wheelchair basketball, softball and rugby, as well as combative and extreme sports. Selected topics, including event planning, advocacy and controversies such as doping, are covered in section four. Chapters new to this edition include approaches to concussions and sports-related considerations for specific populations like children and adolescents, active duty military and veterans. A comprehensive yet practical text, Adaptive Sports Medicine 2nd Edition remains the go-to resource for this active population and is an invaluable reference for any sports medicine or primary medicine practitioner.
Adaptive and Flexible Clinical Trials
by Richard ChinAdaptive clinical trial designs, unlike traditional fixed clinical trial designs, enable modification of studies in response to the data generated in the course of the trial. This often results in studies that are substantially faster, more efficient, and more powerful. Recent developments in web-based real-time data entry and advances in statistic
Adaptive and Maladaptive Aspects of Developmental Stress (Current Topics in Neurotoxicity #3)
by Giovanni Laviola Simone MacrìSince the very early stages of life, we all experience some form of stress. Stressors can be mild to severe and can range from unsuccessfully longing for maternal milk in infancy, to recklessly wiggling on a motorbike to be on time to watch the NBA finals on TV, to breaking up a relationship. All those events that we call "stress" have the capability of perturbing a given state of psychological and physiological equilibrium and moving it to a different level. The transition from crawling to walking has to be considered a form of stress as much as losing a job. It is through a continuous cross-talk between environmental stressors and individual adaptations that we build our personalities and our ways to cope with daily hassles. External challenges should not necessarily be regarded as "bad", but instead seen as constructive forces forming our ability to navigate a changing world. What is stress good for? What is stress bad for? When and why do we need to be "stressed"? Should we worry about stress? When does stress equate to "normality"? When does it turn into pathology? We hope with this book to provide some answers to these fundamental questions.
Addicted and Mentally Ill: Stories of Courage, Hope, and Empowerment
by Bruce Carruth Carol BucciarelliReconnect with dually diagnosed individuals using stories they can identify with! Addicted and Mentally Ill: Stories of Courage, Hope, and Empowerment is a powerful tool to recommend to your clients who are dually diagnosed. This book presents vignettes about people with mental illness and addiction whose situations are representative of what goes on in a dual-diagnosis in-patient setting. This nonclinical, easy-to-read resource will give you, your patients, and their family members unique insight on dual diagnosis and how co-occurring mental illness and addiction can be treated with the minimum amount of blame, shame, or poor decision-making. Addicted and Mentally Ill focuses on the most significant issues surrounding these individuals, such as: dual diagnosis and the family system-how family can help or hinder treatment the reasons why dually diagnosed clients resist treatment the fear of losing self-identity in treatment the misunderstandings about dual diagnosis-from the perspectives of the client, family members, and professionals in medicine and social work the role of hope, empowerment, and spirituality in recovery in dual diagnosis what the patient/client and family members can do to improve treatment options Addicted and Mentally Ill is unique for its storytelling format, consisting of brief tales and short explanations you can recommend to clients and families with limited clinical knowledge or time. This innovative tool answers many of the questions that dually diagnosed individuals may have and helps them learn of the issues surrounding their illness as well as their addiction. For those professionals who provide direct counseling to these clients or patients, this book offers an interesting and nonthreatening way to help them learn about treatment options. The stories in Addicted and Mentally Ill confront the life problems specific to dually diagnosed individuals, including: alcohol, drugs, and self-medication the difficulties of building trust in group therapy settings psychotropic medications illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, and personality disorders suicide
Addicted to Rehab: Race, Gender, and Drugs in the Era of Mass Incarceration
by Allison MckimAfter decades of the American “war on drugs” and relentless prison expansion, political officials are finally challenging mass incarceration. Many point to an apparently promising solution to reduce the prison population: addiction treatment. In Addicted to Rehab, Bard College sociologist Allison McKim gives an in-depth and innovative ethnographic account of two such rehab programs for women, one located in the criminal justice system and one located in the private healthcare system—two very different ways of defining and treating addiction. McKim’s book shows how addiction rehab reflects the race, class, and gender politics of the punitive turn. As a result, addiction has become a racialized category that has reorganized the link between punishment and welfare provision. While reformers hope that treatment will offer an alternative to punishment and help women, McKim argues that the framework of addiction further stigmatizes criminalized women and undermines our capacity to challenge gendered subordination. Her study ultimately reveals a two-tiered system, bifurcated by race and class.
Addiction Becomes Normal: On the Late-Modern American Subject
by Jaeyoon ParkAddiction is now seen as an ordinary feature of human nature, an idea that introduces new doubts about the meaning of our desires. Over the last forty years, a variety of developments in American science, politics, and culture have reimagined addiction in their own ways, but they share an important understanding: increasingly, addiction is described as normal, the natural result of a body that has been exposed to potent stimuli. This shift in thinking suggests that addiction is a condition latent in all of us, a common response to a society rich in thrills. In Addiction Becomes Normal, Jaeyoon Park provides a history and critical analysis of the normalization of addiction in late-modern American society. By exploring addiction science, diagnostic manuals, judicial reform, and public health policy, he shows how seeing addiction as normal has flourished in recent decades and is supported throughout cultural life in the United States by the language of wellness, psychotherapy, and more. Building on Michel Foucault’s depiction of the human figure, Park argues that this shift reflects the emergence of a new American subject, one formed by the accretion of experiences. This view of the human subject challenges the idea that our compulsions reflect our characters, wills, or spirits. For if addiction is an extreme but ordinary attachment, and if compulsive consumption resembles healthy behavior, then desire is no longer an expression of the soul so much as the pursuit of a past reward. A perceptive work of recent history and political theory, Addiction Becomes Normal raises new questions about what it means to be human in America today.
Addiction Controversies
by David M. WarburtonIn the past, the prototypes for characterizing drug use were heroin and cocaine, so that research has focused on possible commonalities between any substance and these drugs. Addiction controversies explores the problems of the commonalities approach by looking at dissimilarities as well. The first chapters of Addiction Controversies trace the development of modern medical attitudes to drug use and the current controversy over its decriminalization. The second set of chapters examines the extent to which drugs have common biological and sociological mechanisms of action and contrasts these explanations. The final chapters consider the extent to which the desires for different substances are the same and the biological and social explanations of relapse. Clinicians, researchers and students in all areas of substance use will be stimulated by these challenges to current thinking and will enjoy the comparative approach that is taken by the contributors to Addiction Controversies.
Addiction Counseling: A Practical Approach
by Alan Cavaiola Amanda L. Giordano Nedeljko GolubovicEquips the upcoming generation of counselors with crucial knowledge to skillfully treat both chemical and behavioral addictions <p><p>Grounded in leading-edge, evidence-based research, this hands-on text applies a step-by-step approach to addictions counseling. This book encompasses assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning; case management; and relapse prevention, with an incisive focus on behavioral addictions and co-occurring disorders. The text covers all essential topics as outlined in the gold standard SAMSHA Counselor Training Manual. Included are detailed guidelines on how to write succinct treatment plans and conduct effective client sessions; case studies; role-playing exercises; and clinical applications to assessment and diagnosis, treatment planning, and case management. Notes from the Field" provides actual interviews with experienced clinicians working with a variety of client populations throughout the country. <p><p>Critical topics unique to the book include the role of neuroscience in addiction treatment, relapse prevention, and advocacy. In addition, the text offers specific chapters on behavioral addictions and co-occuring disorders as well as a separate chapter on multicultural counseling covering gender, racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, age, religion, and disability considerations. It is also distinguished by an abundance of downloadable forms and documents. Pedagogical elements to help learners process and apply concepts include learning objectives, terms to know, learning activities, recommended resources, and chapter summaries. Faculty aids include an instructor's manual with sample syllabi, CACREP mapping tools, test bank, and PowerPoint slides. This essential resource will be valued as a primary textbook for any course that focuses on addiction counseling and treatment. <p><p>Key Features: <p>•Describes a variety of etiological models and how they become a means of assessing biopsychosocial risk factors <p>•Delivers step-by-step guidelines on how to write concise treatment plans and for conducting effective treatment sessions <p>•Devotes a chapter to motivational interviewing to promote willingness to change <p>•Includes cutting-edge research pertaining to neuroscience and its applications and evidence-based treatment practices <p>•Provides separate chapter on multicultural counseling and substance use disorders among people of diverse races, ethnicities, genders, class, ages, and spirituality <p>•Offers real-world insights with "Notes from the Field" feature <p>•Facilitates practical application through role play exercises, treatment technique and assessment case examples, biopsychosocial assessment guidelines, how to provide client feedback, and more <p>•Includes multiple digital downloadable tools and purchase includes digital access for use on most mobile devices or computers
Addiction Debates: Hot Topics from Policy to Practice (SAGE Swifts)
by Catherine ComiskeyAddiction Debates explores the tumultuous landscape of addiction research, policy and practice. Covering all the 'hot topics' of the day in a balanced and informative manner, Comiskey provides international perspectives on each topic, stimulating debate and discussion via the different approaches taken globally. Considering the complexities of debates around legalisation, rehabilitation, abstinence, harm reduction, and the current opioid epidemic, this SAGE Swift also looks into the health and social concerns related to drug consumption. Less-often debated topics include the ageing population of people who use drugs, the rights of the child of parents who use drugs, and the pressure these unique factors put on public health and associated services. A relevant text for a range of disciplines and people, sure to inform, challenge and continue the debate.
Addiction Debates: Hot Topics from Policy to Practice (SAGE Swifts)
by Catherine ComiskeyAddiction Debates explores the tumultuous landscape of addiction research, policy and practice. Covering all the ′hot topics′ of the day in a balanced and informative manner, Comiskey provides international perspectives on each topic, stimulating debate and discussion via the different approaches taken globally. Considering the complexities of debates around legalisation, rehabilitation, abstinence, harm reduction, and the current opioid epidemic, this SAGE Swift also looks into the health and social concerns related to drug consumption. Less-often debated topics include the ageing population of people who use drugs, the rights of the child of parents who use drugs, and the pressure these unique factors put on public health and associated services. A relevant text for a range of disciplines and people, sure to inform, challenge and continue the debate.
Addiction Literature's Past and Present
by Mark RonanAddiction Literature's Past and Present aims to realign consideration of addiction as a transhistorical and transcultural aspect of the human condition. This book illuminates the premodern roots of the linguistic and narrative materials of addiction discourse and argues for Addiction Literature to be considered as a distinct literary phenomenon, with a history stretching back to Antiquity. Addiction, as it is understood in this book, exists at the intersection between appetite, habit and impaired personal behavioural agency. This book begins by exploring the ways in which we articulate the experience (both lived and observed) of addiction today, uncovering a core set of conceptual components and discursive tropes which are commonly associated with modern understandings of the phenomenon. Having established a common set of tropes and features which distinguish modern Addiction Literature as a distinct literary mode, it then considers premodern texts through this lens, revealing similar patterns of conception and convention in a broad range of historical periods and literary genres from Aesop to Shakespeare.
Addiction Medicine: A Case and Evidence-Based Guide (Psychiatry Update #2)
by Jonathan D. Avery David HankinsThis book provides an accessible, up-to-date understanding of how to treat patients with substance and non-substance-related addiction. It covers all the typical substance and non-substance use disorders and presents evidence in a case-based format.Concise and comprehensive, opening chapters relay a preliminary assessment of addiction disorders and their neurobiology. Subsequent chapters then offer specific treatment options, challenges, and cases relating to the abuse of distinct substances. The substances mentioned earlier include alcohol, opioids, stimulants, hallucinogens, and sedatives. Additionally, one chapter covers the unique issues associated with treating behavioral addictions, such as sex and gambling. Each chapter will outline cases in a fashion that will optimize the reader's experience. In closing, the book examines co-occurring substance use disorders and mental illness.An invaluable addition to the Psychiatry Update Series, Addiction Medicine is an essential reference for mental health clinicians, as well as primary care and family medicine clinicians.
Addiction Medicine: Science and Practice
by Bankole A. JohnsonThe spectrum of addiction disorders presents practitioners with numerous challenges--among them the widening gap between a growing evidence base and the translation of this knowledge into treatment outcomes. Addiction Medicine addresses this disconnect, clearly explaining the role of brain function in drug taking and other habit-forming behaviors, and applying this biobehavioral framework to the delivery of evidence-based treatment. Its state-of-the-art coverage provides clinically relevant details on not only traditional sources of addiction such as cocaine, opiates, and alcohol, but also more recently recognized substances of abuse (e.g., steroids, inhalants) as well as behavioral addictions (e.g., binge eating, compulsive gambling, hoarding). Current behavioral and medical therapies are discussed in depth, and the book's close attention to social context gives readers an added lens for personalizing treatment. An international panel of expert contributors offers the most up-to-date information on: Diagnosis and classification Neurobiological and molecular theories of addiction Behavioral concepts of addiction Clinical aspects of addiction to a wide range of substances, including opiates, stimulants, sedatives, hallucinogens, alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine Science-based treatment options: pharmacotherapy, pharmacogenetics, potential vaccines, brief and compliance-enhancing interventions, cognitive behavioral treatment, behavioral management, and other psychosocial interventions Behavioral addictions--including compulsive eating, Internet messaging, and hypersexuality--and their treatment Addiction in specific populations, including adolescents, the elderly, pregnant women, and health care professionals Legal, disability, and rehabilitation issues At once comprehensive and integrative, Addiction Medicine is an essential text and a practice-expanding tool for psychiatrists, health psychologists, pharmacologists, social workers, drug counselors, trainees, and general physicians/family practitioners.
Addiction Neuroethics
by Wayne Hall Adrian CarterAddiction is a significant health and social problem and one of the largest preventable causes of disease globally. Neuroscience promises to revolutionise our ability to treat addiction, lead to recognition of addiction as a 'real' disorder in need of medical treatment and thereby reduce stigma and discrimination. However, neuroscience raises numerous social and ethical challenges: * If addicted individuals are suffering from a brain disease that drives them to drug use, should we mandate treatment? * Does addiction impair an individual's ability to consent to research or treatment? * How will neuroscience affect social policies towards drug use? Addiction Neuroethics addresses these challenges by examining ethical implications of emerging neurobiological treatments, including: novel psychopharmacology, neurosurgery, drug vaccines to prevent relapse, and genetic screening to identify individuals who are vulnerable to addiction. Essential reading for academics, clinicians, researchers and policy-makers in the fields of addiction, mental health and public policy.
Addiction Potential of Abused Drugs and Drug Classes
by Barry StimmelIncrease your awareness of the relative addiction liabilities of various drugs and drug classes that are commonly abused. A timely and masterful new book, Addiction Potential of Abused Drugs and Drug Classes clarifies, in contemporary terminology, the state of addiction liability of cocaine, opiates, alcohol, sedative-hypnotics, nicotine, anxiolytics, marijuana, inhalants and anesthetics, and PCP and hallucinogens--the nine drugs that are most abused today. Authorities combine their research expertise with the available scientific literature to evaluate those factors which contribute to the addictive qualities of drugs. Specific chapters highlight the positive and negative reinforcement qualities that make drugs rewarding, focus on the two major subtypes of alcoholics, and cover the neuroanatomical and neurochemical bases of psychological dependence, the greatest contributing factor to drug addiction. An essential new resource for scientists, clinicians, and administrators, Addiction Potential of Abused Drugs and Drug Classes also highlights those areas where more work is needed in order to understand how individual drugs affect the processes of dependence, tolerance, and addiction, so that adequate treatment of these disorders can be discovered.The book was written for teachers and researchers in the chemical dependency field, to provide an up-to-date review of the literature. In addition, physicians, nurses, and pharmacists will find the book to be valuable as an update on the relative addiction strengths of abused drugs. Finally, treatment counselors and professionals with some knowledge of physiology and pharmacology will be interested in the book because of its relevance to the clinical treatment of chemically-dependent patients.
Addiction Recovery Management: Theory, Research and Practice (Current Clinical Psychiatry)
by John F. Kelly William L. WhiteAddiction Recovery Management: Theory, Research, and Practice is the first book on the recovery management approach to addiction treatment and post-treatment support services. Distinctive in combining theory, research, and practice within the same text, this ground-breaking title includes authors who are the major theoreticians, researchers, systems administrators, clinicians and recovery advocates who have developed the model. State-of-the art and the definitive text on the topic, Addiction Recovery Management: Theory, Research, and Practice is mandatory reading for clinicians and all professionals who work with patients in recovery or who are interested in the field.
Addiction Research and Evaluation: Addressing Key Challenges for Policy and Practice (Advances in Mental Health and Addiction)
by Catherine ComiskeyAccording to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, around 284 million people aged between 15 and 64 years used drugs in the year 2020. In addition, it is estimated that over 11 million people were injecting drugs and half of these were living with hepatitis C. Young people are using more drugs than previously, and numbers have increased over the past decade. While numbers are estimated at a global level, there remains little evidence for practitioners and policy makers on key questions, such as how many people are using drugs that are hidden and haven’t contacted services. Questions include the challenging topics of providing safe injecting spaces and drug consumption rooms. As populations age in some regions, questions arise on the nature of substance use among older people. Countries with younger populations are concerned about estimates on the numbers of children potentially impacted by parental substance use and how to engage with them. Awareness of trauma informed services is increasing and questions arise on the impact of domestic abuse or adverse childhood experiences on people who use drugs and their families. Globally, there is a growing concern on how to inform the debate on cannabis policies and how to assess if the chosen policy will be acceptable to the general population. The aim of this book is to provide researchers, service providers and policy makers with a step-by-step guide to robust methodologies and illustrative case studies to address these challenges. The objective of each chapter is to answer a key question, provide a summary of the background evidence, demonstrate through a series of logical steps how to obtain national or local evidence, and finally illustrate the process with detailed, real life case studies. As addiction is encountered across a wide range of professions and civil society organizations, this book will be an essential textbook for graduate students of medicine, nursing public health, addiction, psychology and health and social care professions. It will be a guiding reference book for international, national and local commissioners and providers of related policies and services. At a local level the step-by-step case studies will provide an easy to follow framework for those wishing to apply the methods to benefit and improve their own practice, service or policy.