Discuss About The Learning Drug Misuse Among College Students?

Case study of Wasim

Question:

Discuss About The Learning Drug Misuse Among College Students?

The current topic focuses on the concept of the use of stimulants and its effect in on enhancing the academic performance of an individual.  These are known as smart a drug which aggravates the process of educational doping. The drugs may vary in its expression within the community and the particular age groups.  Recent surveys and evidences have suggested that Australian students use smart drugs at a rate higher than the Us and the Germany based students.  

In the current assignment, the case study of Wasim had been highlighted who a 29 year old boy is studying at an Australian University. He had come across this facebook post where most of his friends had been using smart drugs for enhancing their educational performances. However, Wasim is sceptical about the affectivity of these drugs in improving the grey matter quotient of an individual. Moreover, sufficient research and past exposure to a similar situation have helped Wasim in understanding that these smart drugs are suggested for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder treatment. Reports and evidences have suggested that though the intake of the drugs can have some positive Impacts initially. However, long term use of the drugs can make an individual dependent and reduce their power of cognition.

For the current context, two separate articles have taken into consideration for focussing upon the effect of drugs academic performance improvement. Therefore, the expertise, qualifications and affiliations possessed by the author of each separate article have been dealt with separately.

The author seems to be working in the areas of psychiatry and psychotherapy along with philosophy. Out of these, KL and AGF belong to the department of psychotherapy and psychiatry, of the University medical centre Mainz, Germany. KL is the head of the department of psychotherapy and psychiatry, AGF is a trainee in the department. EH belongs to the department of philosophy and is an expert in the areas of Neurotics.

EH, AGF, KL participated in conception of the study and design. The interviews were performed jointly by EH, CB, MC and AGF,. The transcriptions for the interviews were performed by DL. AGF and EH analysed the data and designed separate categories.  Most of the authors participated in interpretation of the data, drafting of the report and in the revision of the manuscript.

1. Department of philosophy, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz
2. Department of psychiatry psychotherapy, University medical centre

The relationship between nonmedical use of prescription stimulants, executive functioning and academic outcomes (Munro et al. 2017)

Analysis of two research articles

The articles have been authored by four different authors B.Munro, L. Weyandt, M. Marraccini, D. Oster. Weyandt and Munro have feelowship programs in interdisciplinary neuroscience program, University of Rhodes island, US. Oster works in the University of psychology, University of Rhodes island, US, whereas, Maricinni belongs to the Alpert medical school, brown university.

There are a number of issues which often becomes a hurdle in the path of publication of the report. Some of these are reported in the form of conflicts of interest which often challenges the authenticity of a research publication. The COI often arises due to disparity where some of the points mentioned by the author do not qualify with the reality based evidences (Schelle et al. 2015).  The development of such conflict of interest can often arise due to credit not given to an author for his specific contribution in the research paper and findings.

For the present study the major conflict of interest have come from some of the other peer reviewed journals where the concerned author has claimed that the stimulants can actually be prescribed under serious conditions for improving the cognitive and thinking power of an individual. However as argued by Betancourt et al. (2013), the long term use addictive substances can have other serious health implications or reduce the self esteem of an individual in the long run.

Article: Life context of pharmacological academic performance enhancement among university students – a qualitative approach

A critical research question here would be whether the participants of the interview actually felt positive changes within their academic performance with the use of the drugs

The present study aims to reduce the lack of scientific and empirical data about factors and real world effects on academic performance enhancement.

Article: The relationship between nonmedical use of prescription stimulants, executive functioning and academic outcomes

Aims: the study was focussed on EF globally and considered as a determining factor of the cognitive ability and thinking power possessed by an individual.

The articles consist of two different research hypotheses such as:

1. Students with reported cognitive deficits were more likely to use illicit academic performance stimulants
2. To test the second outcome which is aimed at finding out the effect of  NMUPs on cognitive functioning and academic  outcomes an ANNOVA test was performed

The author highlights the emerging trend within the present Australian context where majority students have been seen to be dependent upon the use of stimulant to enhance their academic performance. However, a number of contradictions are observed to be present with the use of such illicit drugs to enhance the academic performance of individuals (Arria & Compton, 2017). Some of the limitations which have been further reported through research and study are increased dependency in the students for the use of illicit drugs which reduces their self esteem. Additionally, the same had also been seen to have other serious health mental and physical exaggerations.  In the present case study wasim had reportedly found a connection between the use of smart drugs for the treatment of conditions such as the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Therefore, unsupervised medications over longer periods of time could resulted in development of unexplained stress or melancholic situation by altering the serotonin and dopamine concentration in the brain (Shepherd et al. 2016).

Factors influencing drug use

The methodology adopted for the present study design was qualitative in nature where open ended questionnaires were placed in front of the students. The students were asked a number of different questions and the interview responses collected were grouped into similar and disimilar responses. The similar responses were grouped into themes, which were further evaluated during the interview process. The interview recordings were made into transcript which was used for further comparative analysis.

The participants were invited for the interview through the distribution of placards in the University billboards. An information sheet was displayed depicting sufficient information about the use of particular kind of drugs and the effects of the same on the health and cognition of the students. A list was provided asking the students regarding the illicit and non-supervised use of psycho stimulants such as amphetamines, methylphenidate. The students were asked to share their details anonymously. However, healthy students without any history of psychotic issues and disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity or schizophrenia or using psycho addictive medications such as Ritalin were considered for the study.

The questionnaire was designed using set rules or guidelines where full confidentiality was maintained regrading the data collection procedure. This also helped in preserving some of the important details that is the such as the personal identities of the participants. The questions were asked mainly related to the surrounding conditions which the student towards the intake of such addictive drugs. They were also inquired regrading the amount of changes which was reflected among their grades and marks.

The researcher has used a qualitative research design for the data collection and analysis. In this respect, the students were interviewed on  a face to face regarding the  various situations or factors  which might have force d them to  undertake the  use of such simulants for enhancing their academic performance. The structured open ended questionnaires thrown towards the students helped in the evaluation of the parameters which affects the cognitive and thinking ability of a person.

The participants selected were 18 healthy university students who had been reportedly using unsupervised medication or stimulants for the enchantment of their academic performance. The students were interviewed in a face to faces set up regarding the conditions or the situations which triggered the use of such substances by the students. The questions were also farmed covering the initial or the changed feelings of the students brought about by the consumption of the stimulants. The analysis provided by the students were used further for arriving at a suitable conclusion regarding the effects of the drugs and the influences  the consumption of the same may produce on the cognitive thinking and abilities  of a person(Nargiso et al. 2015).

Methodology for data collection and analysis

A strong correlation has been seen to exist between poor performance in academics and the use of stimulants. Therefore, the evidences suggested by the authors have been truly justified where academic grades have often increased peer pressure among the students for the use of such drugs (Werry et al. 2013).

A number of limitations are thrown towards the application of the evidences in real life situations. This could be attributed to the contradictory views possessed by different educational concerns. Additionally, lack of sufficient knowledge among the student population regarding the use of such drugs and its health impacts can also affect dictate their preferences (Luca et al. 2016). Similarly, lack of sufficient support from allied educational concerns can also serve as a limitation.

Factors	Methods and outcome
Patient, population, Problem	In the current situation, 18 healthy university students were  selected for a face to face interview where they were asked questions regarding the illicit use  of smart drugs for  enhancing academic performance
Intervention	supportive counselling framework provided to the students during the experiment duration to  evaluate the effect of  the effect the detachment  the stimulants have on the students
Comparison	The data  recorded  from the students  using stimulants were compared with the ones not using stimulants to analyse the effect of the same on student’s academic  performance
Outcome	The students  were  subjected to follow up along with motivational interview sessions in order to understand the improvement in the overall academic grades of the students.

Table 1: PICO

(Source: Hildt et al. 2014)

References

Advokat, C., & Scheithauer, M. (2013). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) stimulant medications as cognitive enhancers. Frontiers in neuroscience, 7.

Arria, A. M., & Compton, W. M. (2017). Complexities in understanding and addressing the serious public health issues related to the nonmedical use of prescription drugs.

Arria, A. M., Garnier-Dykstra, L. M., Cook, E. T., Caldeira, K. M., Vincent, K. B., Baron, R. A., & O’Grady, K. E. (2013). Drug use patterns in young adulthood and post-college employment. Drug and alcohol dependence, 127(1), 23-30.

Betancourt, J., Ríos, J. L., Pagán, I., Fabián, C., González, A. M., Cruz, S. Y., … & Palacios, C. (2013). Non-medical use of prescription drugs and its association with socio-demographic characteristics, dietary pattern, and perceived academic load and stress in college students in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico health sciences journal, 32(2).

Clayton, H. B., Lowry, R., August, E., & Jones, S. E. (2015). Nonmedical use of prescription drugs and sexual risk behaviors. Pediatrics, peds-2015.

Hildt, E., Lieb, K., & Franke, A. G. (2014). Life context of pharmacological academic performance enhancement among university students–a qualitative approach. BMC medical ethics, 15(1), 23.

Kennedy, J. N., Bebarta, V. S., Varney, S. M., Zarzabal, L. A., & Ganem, V. J. (2015). Prescription stimulant misuse in a military population. Military medicine, 180(3S), 191-194.

Luca, S. M., Franklin, C., Yueqi, Y., Johnson, S., & Brownson, C. (2016). The relationship between suicide ideation, behavioral health, and college academic performance. Community mental health journal, 52(5), 534-540.

Munro, B. A., Weyandt, L. L., Marraccini, M. E., & Oster, D. R. (2017). The relationship between nonmedical use of prescription stimulants, executive functioning and academic outcomes. Addictive behaviors, 65, 250-257.

Nargiso, J. E., Ballard, E. L., & Skeer, M. R. (2015). A systematic review of risk and protective factors associated with nonmedical use of prescription drugs among youth in the United States: a social ecological perspective. Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs, 76(1), 5-20.

Schelle, K. J., Olthof, B. M., Reintjes, W., Bundt, C., Gusman-Vermeer, J., & van Mil, A. C. (2015). A survey of substance use for cognitive enhancement by university students in the Netherlands. Frontiers in systems neuroscience, 9.

Shepherd, J., Meteyer, K., Bruzios, K., Pol, J., & Charpentier, M. (2016). Normative perceptions of peer substance use and party-related behaviors. InSight: Rivier Academic Journal, 12(1).

Skidmore, C. R., Kaufman, E. A., & Crowell, S. E. (2016). Substance use among college students. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics, 25(4), 735-753.

Watkins, W. C. (2016). A social learning approach to prescription drug misuse among college students. Deviant Behavior, 37(6), 601-614.

Werry, J. S., & Aman, M. G. (Eds.). (2013). Practitioner’s guide to psychoactive drugs for children and adolescents. Springer Science & Business Media.