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Biomedical subjects

F Suffet

Publications and source records attributed to F Suffet.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Some sex-neutral and sex-specific factors related to employment among substance abuse clients.

Workfare programs, designed to implement the 1996 federal Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act, raise anew the issue of the employability of substance abusers. The present study explores this issue by examining factors potentially related to the employment status at intake of 1274 men and 804 women admitted for substance abuse treatment to the Center for Comprehensive Health Practice in New York City from July 1995 through December 1997. It was found that men were more likely to be employed than women. For both sexes, employment was positively related to education and stable housing. For men, employment was negatively related to having a mobility impairment; for women, it was negatively related to their number of children and being pregnant. For each sex, variables significantly associated with employment were used to construct a "work barriers" scale. For both sexes, employment was negatively related to number of work barriers. Women generally faced more barriers than men, accounting for their lower employment rate. Public policy and research implications of the findings are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

A comprehensive care program for pregnant addicts: obstetrical, neonatal, and child development outcomes.

This study reports the results of a comprehensive care program for pregnant addicts, one that provides medical, counseling, and child development services. Findings include the following. Women who enroll while pregnant generally stay through childbirth, and most deliveries are free of complication. Most newborns are of normal gestational age and birthweight, and these outcomes are directly related to length and amount of prenatal care. Neonatal withdrawal is directly related to prenatal maternal methadone dose. Child development, as measured by the Bayley Scales, is usually in the normal range, although mean scores for cognitive development decrease through age 2. Female babies generally have higher cognitive and motor scores than males, and their cognitive scores decline less sharply than those of the males. Developmental scores are directly related to neonatal maturity, especially birthweight. Prenatal maternal methadone dose tends to be negatively related to developmental scores for boys but not for girls.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

The Neonatal Narcotic Withdrawal Index: a device for the improvement of care in the abstinence syndrome.

Management of 50 experimental newborn infants ill with narcotic withdrawal has been carried out with the aid of an instrument developed for measuring its severity, the Neonatal Narcotic Withdrawal Index (NNWI). With its use, infants exposed to methadone in utero have been successfully cared for with detoxification needed in less than 25% of cases and for durations of less than 2 weeks. The percentage of cases and the length of treatment is much less than is customary for infants who have been prenatally exposed to similar doses of methadone. Validity of the NNWI is shown by the statistically significant difference between the mean scores for experimental and control subjects, a high significant correlation between simultaneously measured scores by separate examiners, statistically significant correlations between subscores and total withdrawal scores for the narcotic-exposed experimental cases, and for this group, a statistically significant correlation between scores of withdrawal and the maternal dose of methadone. The simplicity of the NNWI should help to make it acceptable for use by physicians.

Female↗
PubMed1979

Outcomes of pregnancy for addicts receiving comprehensive care.

This study reports pregnancy outcomes for 105 addicted women enrolled in New York Medical College's Pregnant Addicts and Addicted Mothers Program. Three classes of variables are examined: prenatal care variables, obstetrical outcomes, and neonatal outcomes. As a first step, percentage distributions are shown for all variables within each class. With respect to the second and third classes, comparisons are made when possible to findings reported elsewhere on heroin-addicted, methadone-maintained, and drug-free populations. Zero-order correlations are then shown for the prenatal care variables versus the neonatal outcomes. It is found that the mother's number of prenatal medical visits correlates significantly with the neonate's gestational age at birth and birth weight, and that her methadone dose at time of delivery correlates significantly with the neonate's withdrawal status. The effect of the prenatal care variables on the two key neonatal outcomes--gestional age at birth and birth weight--is then examined via a stepwise regression analysis. It is found that two of the variables--gestional duration at first prenatal visit and number of prenatal visits--together account for 18.5% of the variance in birth weight and 26.9% of the variance in gestational age at birth, while maternal methadone dose has virtually no effect on these outcome measures. The findings indicate that better neonatal outcomes are associated with the mother's joining the program relatively early in pregnancy and coming in relatively often for prenatal care.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Naltrexone and conventionality.

This study examines the effect of conventionality on whether patients who were scheduled for naltrexone took it, and on treatment outcomes for patients who did take it. It is based on admission and case record data for 147 male opiate addicts who enrolled in New York Medical College's Multitrack Abstinence Program. Naltrexone-taking is examined against an array of "drug" and "social" variables and is found to be strongly related to four in particular: amount spent daily on heroin, number of arrests, type of residence, and employment. These variables are combined into an index which measures a patient's degree of conventionality. It is found that naltrexone-taking varies directly with degree of conventionality. Furthermore, it is found that, among patients who took naltrexone, those who gained in conventionality while in treatment were more likely than others to leave the program opiate-free after terminating naltrexone therapy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Employment and social disability among opiate addicts.

This study examines the relationship between employment and social disability. It is based on admission data for 296 opiate addicts who enrolled in New York Medical College's Multitrack Abstinence Program during 1974. Social disability is defined here as an attribute of the patient which may count against him or her in the job market. Employment rates are examined in the light of an index comprised of three specific disabilities: minority group status, lack of a high school degree, and presence of an arrest record. It is found that the proportion of addicts employed upon admission to the program varies inversely with the number of disabilities. Furthermore, it is found that the proportion of addicts who rely on illegal acts for their main source of income varies directly with the number of disabilities.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1976

Female drug use: some observations.

This paper, based on a review of recent social science drug research, summarizes the main findings on female drug use and speculates on its future direction. The findings include the following: women are usually initiated into illicit drug use by men; rates of illicit drug use are lower among females than males (which may reflect the greater personal freedom traditionally granted to males), although the difference narrows among younger persons and among those who subscribe to more liberal values and life styles; women are more likely than men to use psychotherapeutic drugs (which may reflect strains resulting from their unequal status vis-à-vis men); and female opiate addicts, although they tend to hold conventional values, are often involved in such deviant activity as prostitution. To the extent that women gain social equality with men and subscribe to greater personal lifestyle freedom, they may be expected to show a higher rate of illicit drug use, particularly of a recreational kind. On the other hand, the rate of psychotherapeutic drug use may decrease, although if the tensions of the workplace eventually substitute for the tensions of status inequality, the resultant changes in rates and patterns of substance use are problematic.

Age Factors↗