Thompson's Week 5 Research Blog

This week I was introduced to individual databases that can be used to do specific research in different fields of study, and had no idea they existed until this course ensued. I actually learned a lot about the databases by using them to find relevant research for my research question. Part of my research question has to do with, at current, what the most effective treatments are available when it comes to substance abuse treatment, and through my research I am learning that family-based therapy seems to be one of the most effective treatments. The research I just finished with talked in length about how through empirical research family-based drug intervention is at least as effective, if not more so, than individual, group, or cognitive drug intervention. Family-based therapy is based upon counseling that incorporates one's family to help achieve some form of abstention from illicit drugs, and seems to work rather well when it comes to adolescent drug abuse. From my research so far I have determined that I presented a challenging research proposal that will take some work to answer, but I believe that it is an appropriate and worthwhile question to pursue. I would like to research individual and cognitive-based therapies further so that I will be better informed about the different avenues used to treat drug addiction. I am also excited to press on in my research to answer the second part of my research question; why isn't more money funneled from the criminal justice system to treat drug addiction as opposed to incarceration. I believe this part of my question will pose the greatest challenge. I believe I am starting to become more familiar with the research process, but do not completely understand controlled vocabulary searches. If anyone could give me some advice when it comes to these types of searches it would be greatly appreciated.