35th Annual Alcohol Epidemiology Symposium - Kettil Bruun Society 1-5/06/09 Copenhagen

1-5 June 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Call for Abstracts

Interested researchers with studies on alcohol are invited to submit an abstract to present at the KBS 2009 Conference. Abstracts are due by February 15th, 2009.

Details can be found here

Abstracts can be submitted on-line or sent by email to: Jette Iversen of NHG A/S Conferences, jette@nhg.dk,

Thematic meeting of the Kettil Bruun Society for Social and Epidemiological Research on Alcohol, “Models, implications and meanings of alcohol and drug treatment systems”

7-9 October 2009, Stockholm, Sweden

Historically, most national treatment systems have developed with a lack of overall planning and evaluation of the results. The question of how to best allocate resources for treatment of alcohol and drug problems is increasingly important, not only in developing countries but also in affluent societies, with raising costs of health and welfare.
The various efforts that have aimed at identifying effective treatment methods for different groups of substance abusers have so far not been able to give a sufficient base for allocation or priority decisions within the treatment practice. Further discussions about how the treatment practices and treatment systems best can respond to the substance abuse problems have pointed to longitudinal and life course perspectives for the identification of effective measures, to the importance of analysing help-seeking behaviour and to the development of stepped-care models.

Focus in treatment research is moving away from evaluation of specific treatment methods and techniques to common factors in treatment or characteristic qualities of treatment systems and evaluation of population effects of these system characteristics.

The aim of this meeting is to develop and discuss new perspectives on alcohol and drug treatment systems. The meeting wants to encourage comparative research and to stimulate the theoretical and methodological discussion by inviting researchers from fields with similar perspectives, such as mental health research and research on care of disabled. The meeting will strive to attract an international group of researchers, with support for researchers from low and middle income countries.

We are particularly interested in the following topics:

1) Theories and models of treatment systems and their evaluation. How can we delineate treatment systems for substance abusers, for instance in relation to control measures or informal social support? What are the crucial structural resources or quality features of the system from a public health or social welfare point of view? Can any of these characteristics be valid across cultural borders? How can the impact of the features and qualities be measured, on a population level or for the treatment-seeking individual, for instance in terms of cost-benefit analyses? How do models differ in terms of their use of primary care or other health and service agencies as replacement/part of/integrated with alcohol and drug treatment? What do we know about their measurement and outcomes?

2) Treatment in the wider social-political context, and the role of treatment in the long-term recovery process from addiction problems. This theme would include analyses of various treatment enterprises as parts of society's welfare and control systems, as well as research looking at professional help as parts of the complex web of influences that guides the recovery process in the individual case. This would include research that explores the meaning of treatment from users' and professionals' point of view, as well as well as research that aims to overcome the unfortunate divide between quantitative and qualitative approaches by e.g. combining long-term, naturalistic research designs with well-defined controlled trials of various specific interventions.

3) Current policy changes or trends in treatment systems, through local or comparative studies. We know that management models and guiding organisational principles in treatment are diffused, within countries or internationally. What ideas and models prevail now? What are the rationales behind possible international or regional/local trends?

Call for papers

All participants are expected to prepare an informative abstract (maximum 200 words) proposing a paper to be presented and discussed at the conference. The abstract should be submitted by May 15 2009 together with the registration form. Participation at the conference is limited and preference will be given to abstracts, which are most central to the themes of the conference.

Acceptance of papers and attendance, together with further information about payment, hotel reservations and social programme around the conference, will be sent by the end of June 2009.
To maximise time at the conference for discussion, papers will be pre-circulated on a website for conference participants prior to the conference. Accepted papers are due by the end of August 2009. At the same time the conference fee of 200 Euros should be paid.

The fee includes lodging and partial board (breakfasts, coffees and lunches) during the conference. Scholars without the access to institutional resources may apply for support to attend the meeting. To apply for such support, send a request with a budget of total estimated expenses specifying the portion for which support is requested, by May 15, 2009.

Please send you registration and abstract to: Nordic Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research (Nordic Centre for Welfare and Social Issues), Annankatu 29 A 23, FIN-00100 Helsinki, Finland, nads@nad.fi

Conference venue

The conference will be held in a former prison, located in the centre of Stockholm, Sweden. The prison is today a postmodern conference centre called Långholmen Hotel and Center. The participants will be accomodated in the centre. Additional information can be found on http://langholmen.com <http://langholmen.com/> .

Organizers
The conference will be hosted by the Nordic Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research (NAD), to be called Nordic Welfare Centre in 2009, and Centre for Social Research of Alcohol and Drugs (SoRAD), Stockholm university, in collaboration with Alcohol Research Group, ARG, California.

Jan Blomqvist email: jan.blomqvist@sorad.su.se <mailto:jan.blomqvist@sorad.su.se>

Mads Uffe Pedersen email: mup@crf.au.dk <mailto:mup@crf.au.dk>

Pia Rosenqvist email : pia@nad.fi <mailto:pia@nad.fi>

Kerstin Stenius email: kerstin.stenius@stakes.fi <mailto:kerstin.stenius@stakes.fi>

Constance Weisner email: Constance.Weisner@nsmtp.kp.org