Treatment of Opioid Use Disorders Among Adolescents and Young Adults

Course overview

Opioid misuse is a leading cause of unintentional injury and death among adolescents and young adults. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. nearly tripled from 1999 to 2014 with over 60% of those deaths involving opioids (Rudd, 2016). More than 80% of adolescents who die from an opioid overdose do so accidentally, reflecting in part their lack of understanding and underestimation of the dangers inherent in misuse of opioid medications (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2017). Along with increased risk of lethal overdose, adolescents who misuse prescription opioids are at increased risk of severe medical complications that necessitate emergency treatment, progression to drugs with even greater potential for lethality such as heroin, and the development of a substance use disorder. This course will focus on the biological and psychosocial factors that are unique to adolescents and that impact their vulnerability to the negative effects of opioid use. You will increase your understanding of the scope of opioid use disorders among adolescents and young adults and improve your ability to effectively identify and treat problematic, nonmedical use of prescription and other opioids. The goal of this course is to provide addictions, behavioral health counseling, marriage and family therapy, nursing, psychology, and social work professionals in health and human services with information on the development, prevalence, and treatment of opioid use disorders in adolescent and young adult populations.