It is my pleasure to introduce the European Addictions Nursing Special Edition of the Journal of Addictions Nursing. In this issue, the articles address both the art and science of addictions nursing in countries throughout Europe.
We begin with a Guest Editorial, "Walls Are not the Answer," by the International Nursing Society on Addictions' (IntNSA's) current President-Elect, Dr. Carmel Clancy, who is professor and head of the Department for Mental Health and Social Work at Middlesex University; Mr. Peter Kelly, a PhD candidate and a lecturer in mental health nursing and coordinator of postgraduate diploma in recovery focused mental health; and Dr. Chris Loth, an addictions specialist nurse and owner of Loth Nursing Consultancy, an outpatient clinic for people with mental health problems.
These three colleagues have worked together on the next article, "State of the Art in European Addictions Nursing," and present their unique perspectives from the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Similar to the United States, some key areas to address in Europe include fighting stigma, focusing on recovery, and designing scope and standards for addictions nursing across Europe.
Evidence suggests that nurses are not sufficiently prepared to work with patients who use alcohol and other drugs during their undergraduate education. Drs. Clancy and Oyefeso present a case study, "Getting Addiction into Nursing Education," that employs a mixed-methods longitudinal design to explore perceptions among entry-level nursing students related to alcohol and other drug use and explore whether current alcohol and drug education impact nursing students' perceptions over time.
Current literature lacks a consensus about the factors that increase the risk of a patient developing severe alcohol withdrawal. Next, Dr. Benson and colleagues' study, "Risk Factors for Severe Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome in an Acute Care Hospital," sets out to identify the variables that increase the risk of severe alcohol withdrawal in patients, using a case-control study design.
Dr. Catherine Comiskey and her colleagues present the "Client's Views on the Importance of a Nurse Led Approach and Nurse Prescribing" in developing a treatment recovery model. The aim of their study is to establish from clients their nursing needs and to use these findings alongside an objective measure of client's health, to inform the development of a nurse-led treatment model.
Christine Jaiteh, Regine Steinauer, and Irena Frei have done a qualitative study working with patients with an opioid use disorder accompanied by polysubstance use to explore their perspectives in terms of their experiences and needs regarding care provision in an acute care hospital setting. It is hoped that, by addressing these patients' experiences, data will be provided for targeted interventions.
Cinderella Zwennes and Chris Loth tell us that, in daily practice, practitioners observe not only that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder causes a decline in patients' quality of life but also that the presence of sleep and eating disorders also often has an impact on their daily functioning. The aim of this qualitative study is to give meaning to the experiences of participants who are living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, sleep deprivation, and overweight and to provide additional knowledge and data that will inform integrated treatment in the long term.
Dr. Maria Antonietta De Salvia and her colleagues address the issue of alcohol consumption habits of undergraduate freshmen students in a university setting in southern Italy. Special emphasis is placed on assessing binge drinking levels.
Nuray Simsek, Derya Sahin, and Mahmut Evli explore the issue of Internet use and Internet addiction on cyber-victimization and cyberbullying among adolescents in Turkey. Given today's frequency of Internet use, it will be important to continue to examine these issues.
Finally, we have a number of informative columns as well, including Susanne Fogger's Clinical Review on Methamphetamine Use and the Opioid Crisis; Dahlia Khajeei's Media Watch column, which is a book review on "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction"; Katherine Fornili's Policy Watch on IntNSA's Strategic Plan for Global Development; and Christopher Hamilton's Peer Assistance column on the Health Professionals' Services Program: Oregon's Alternative to Discipline Monitoring Program for Nurses.
This is an exciting issue, one in which we will all learn more about the art and science of addictions nursing in Europe. Given IntNSA's global initiatives and the development of newly formed international chapters, I can't think of a better issue to begin my work as Editor in Chief of the Journal for Addictions Nursing.