Utility of special drive campaign on substance use disorders in hard-to-reach communities in the fast urbanizing town of Solan, India.

AIMS

Special drive campaigns on substance use disorders (SUDs) in India are usually organized in educational institutes, non-governmental organizations, or few selected localities. Hard to reach communities of construction, prison, and industrial sites quite often remain uncovered.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

During a month-long special drive in 2019, under a cross-sectional study, we reached these communities of Solan town through awareness camps and incorporated standardized screening tools for evaluating morbidity patterns of SUDs.

RESULTS

Statistically significant relationship existed between 360 participants (90.8% males, 9.2% females; mean age of 33 years) and their educational levels with χ (1, = 360) =130.59, = 0.000. Fagerstrom's scale inferred very high nicotine dependence in 10.6%, 7.9%, and 2.4% of prisoners, industrial workers, and laborers, respectively. Whereas, Fagerstrom scale for smokeless tobacco revealed 31% of significant dependence potential amongst laborers. Alcohol use disorder identification test revealed 28 persons with harmful alcohol dependence. Drug abuse screening test revealed 13.6% of prisoners having moderate level drug abuse potential. The Kruskal-Wallis test showed a statistically significant difference, in levels and potential of substance use in construction, prison, and industrial sites.

CONCLUSION

The study proved the utility of special drives in evaluating SUDs morbidity patterns in hard-to-reach communities.