The following page numbers refer to the full document, but note that the resource is also available in smaller sections, which may load more quickly. Please read Chapter 1 (pp. 1 - 11) and Chapter 2 to 6 (pp. 17 - 94). Please note that many other substances can have stimulant-like effects. For example, in Kenya, miraa (also known as khat) has such properties, and the learning in Chapter 6 applies to all stimulant-type substances.  Please also review Chapter 11 (pp. 147 - 156), Chapter 15 (pp. 185 - 192), Chapter 18 (pp. 207 - 214), and p. 243, p. 249, and p. 261 of the Appendices.

The substances covered in the other chapters are supplementary readings, as are Chapters 13 and 14, since you will learn most of those non-medical intervention techniques with the ASSIST Brief Intervention Guide. Review the Table of Contents to determine whether any other section is relevant to your clinical practice and, if so, please read it as well. There is a useful glossary at the end of the document, and tips to help implement the interventions in clinical practice are found in Appendix I. 

On the website titled "PHE Alcohol Learning Resources" please click on "Primary Care eLearning" and review sessions 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. Please attempt to answer all questions to the best of your ability before submitting and reviewing the answers. Those questions are for your own learning and are not part of the course evaluation. 

The third session, which covers the AUDIT, is optional. This course will cover screening through the ASSIST screening tool but it does not cover the AUDIT tool. The AUDIT is a very useful and simple tool and because you might not be part of a site where there is someone who can administer the ASSIST, you might still wish to review session 3, focusing on those who use alcohol and/or tobacco in your practice rather than screening for all substances. 

In the "mhGAP Intervention Guide" review sections ALC1 - ALC3 and DRU1 - DRU 3 (pp. 58 - 72). Those are the sections on "Alcohol Use and Alcohol Disorders" and "Drug Use and Drug Use Disorders." Each section begins with an 'Assessment and Management Guide for Emergency Cases,' which is followed by an ‘Assessment and Management Guide’ (which, for alcohol, covers an algorithm to look at consumption), and the last section is 'Intervention Details.' These sections provide a very basic overview of care for alcohol and substance use disorders. Many resources in the rest of this training will assist you in further developing your skills for brief interventions and the management of alcohol use and other substance use disorders.

This "Screening for Drug Use in General Medical Settings: Quick Reference Guide" is a very simple and easy way to understand how to provide care to individuals who are using substances.  After reading this you should understand the basic functions of screening and brief interventions.

Review this list of guidelines from the "National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health" that cover various topics in relation to mental health and substance use disorders. Choose the topics that are of greatest interest to you. It should take approximately 1-2 hours to review each set of guidelines, therefore it would take considerably longer to read them all. 

This detailed manual titled "A Guide to Substance Abuse Services for Primary Care Clinicians" is a good reference manual for primary care intervention for substance use disorders. We will be covering many of the topics included in this manual through other resources found in this and other modules. You do not need to review this entire guide now. However, it is recommended that you download it and review the Table of Contents now, so that you become familiar with what it covers and can refer back to it as needed. Many issues covered in this manual, such as specialized treatment and some pharmacotherapy, will not be addressed by the other resources in this training.

Click on the tab titled  "Assessment", and read the content of the link titled "Assessing alcohol problems in older adults".  Then, under the tab titled "Treatment", click on the link titled "Treating alcohol problems in older adults" and read the content of that link.  As optional reading, click on the tab titled "Screening" and read the content of the link titled "Screening for alcohol problems in older adults".