Adult children of parents and caregivers with alcohol-related problems face significant adversities but can develop resilience through various protective factors in their environment. The authors unpacked how protective factors in the social environment of adult children of parents and carers with alcohol-related problems influence their resilience. The current study reports on three self-reported narratives of adult children of parents and carers with alcohol-related problems in Botswana using semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The findings revealed individual support system and external support systems as protective factors. This study used socio-ecological resilience theory to present insights for social workers to pursue as they enhance individual resilience capacity and develop meaningful African context-based intervention programmes.

Problematic alcohol use in South Africa is widespread. Alcohol use amongst adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) is increasingly normalised and socially accepted despite associated risks. Applying social theories to interpret data from qualitative interviews with 68 AGYW aged 15-24 years, we explore social norms surrounding alcohol use. Key themes included peer influence, family and household contexts of drinking, and cultural alcohol use. Respondents described using alcohol as a coping mechanism and for escapism, and its negative impacts on mental and physical health, finances, and education. This analysis frames AGYW alcohol consumption through a sociological lens, moving beyond individualistic and biomedical frameworks to understand social norms that underpin AGYW’s drinking behaviours. This investigation can inform future interventions and policies.

New Psychoacve Substances (NPS), also known as designer drugs, pose significant public health risks due to their potent psychoacve properes and potenal neurobehavioural effects. Medical doctors play a crucial role in idenfying and addressing the health risks associated with NPS use. This study assessed medical doctors' knowledge of NPS and their neurobehavioral effects. A cross-seconal online survey of licensed medical doctors was conducted, revealing varying levels of awareness and knowledge regarding NPS. While respondents showed familiarity with NPS terminology and street names, gaps existed, parcularly concerning specific NPS categories. This underscores the importance of enhancing medical professionals' understanding of NPS to ensure comprehensive paent care and informed treatment decisions.

Social exclusion elements (poverty, high unemployment and lack of social contacts) have generally been found to be contributing factors to the increased prominence of home-made alcohol in South African society and in the Mopani District of Limpopo Province in particular. These major elements of exclusion combined create a situation from which it is quite difficult for rural people to escape. Therefore, consumption of alcohol, be it home-made or industrymanufactured, makes a significant contribution to alcohol-related harm globally. Harmful use of alcohol and particularly the under-researched and unrecorded home-made alcohol and its related problems have become one of the major global public health problems. Alcohol consumption has been identified as an important risk factor of chronic disease and injury. Home-made alcohol production and use correlates strongly with the pressures placed upon social capital by rapid modernization and the decline in traditional social relationships and forms of family structure. The socio-economic injustices and the constant weakening of family bonds have created an environment in which temporary escape from the harsh reality of everyday life is often sought through the production of home-made alcohol. The focus of this paper was to explore the rationale towards concoction of harmful substances into home-made alcohol in Mopani District of Limpopo Province. Qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual design was ideal and purposive and snowball samplings were used. Data was collected through interviews with brewers and consumers of home-made alcoholic beverages. It was found that foreign substances are put into home-made alcoholic beverages for commercial reasons as a way of dealing with socio-economic exclusion. Due to the high concerns of public health in rural areas because of foreign substances into home-made alcohol, social workers in public health should do awareness campaigns and community education on home-made alcohol. Key Words : home-made alcohol, unemployment, poverty, social isolation

The purpose of this study was to determine the amount of caffeine in non-alcoholic energy drinks and prepared teas using reverse phase HPLC. Caffeine was extracted from 19 different types of non-alcoholic beverages and prepared teas sampled from supermarkets in Nairobi Central Business District, Kenya. These were analyzed alongside a caffeine standard of 99 % purity by use of HPLC-UV detector at the wavelength of 272nm, Supelco HS C18 column 25 cm x 4.6 cm x 5 μm, oven temperature of 40 oC, mobile phase 80:20 (v/v) of methanol: water and mobile phase flow rate of 1.5mL/min. For quantitation purposes, serial dilution of the caffeine standard gave correlation coefficient (r) of 0.9993 and the retention time of 2.11±0.03 minute. Percentage recovery of caffeine from the column ranged from 89.78 to 105.59%. Limits of detection and quantitation were found to be 0.279 and 0.931 μg/mL respectively. It was found that Burn®, XL energy drink® and Red Bull® had the highest amount of caffeine. It was however noted that though most of the non-alcoholic beverages had high caffeine content they had no label claim. Key Words: Reverse Phase High Performance Liquid chromatography (HPLC), Ultra violet visible (UV/VIS), caffeine, non-alcoholic beverages

Substance abuse co-morbidity with psychiatric disorders is common and has been widely reported, except in Kenya. This study aimed to determine the prevalence, pattern and socio-economic burden of a dual diagnosis of substance abuse disorder and other psychiatric conditions. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study of 691 patients admitted at Mathari hospital. Only 42 patients had a first working diagnosis of substance abuse but nearly thirty-five percent of the patients scored for a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition) diagnosis of alcohol dependance/abuse. There was high co-morbidity of alcohol abuse/dependence with opiate, sedative and 'khat' use, as well as with mood and other psychotic disorders. Substance abuse disorders correlated significantly with other psychiatric disorders. Only 12 patients were in a drug rehabilitation unit, all of whom had a dual psychiatric diagnosis of affective disorder. There were high co-morbidity rates of substance abuse in both general psychiatric wards and drug rehabilitation units. KEY WORDS: substance abuse, co-morbidity, psychiatric disorders, Kenya

Few studies have addressed the reasons for substance use in Kenya, with most focusing on prevalence rates in school-based and general population samples. None have been carried out among people already using drugs. This study, based on five samples of drug users, aimed to identify patterns of factors contributing to and consequences of substance use; compare socio-demographic characteristics; document help-seeking behaviours of substance abusers as well as their family and social dynamics. Active or former substance abusers (N =1,420) were interviewed using a structured questionnaire format. The peak age for substance abuse was between 21 and 30 years and most abusers were male. Leisure, stress and peer pressure were the most common reasons given for abusing substances. There were negative economic and work-related impacts of abusing substances. Risky sexual behaviour may have been a consequenc of abusing substances. Substance abusers need assistance as most of them could benefit from programmes for treatment and rehabilitation. Keywords: substance abuse, Kenya, urban, peri-urban