NURS 445B
The Mechanisms and Issues of Addiction

Course Introduction

Welcome to "The Mechanisms of Addiction," the final course in the "Advanced Research in Addiction and the Brain" certificate program. This course explores the onset of addiction as a disease of the brain and delves into the purposes and methods of current addiction research. Focusing on a selection of drugs of abuse, the material outlines the onset and stages of the disease of addiction, including the neurobiology of tolerance, dependence, and addiction. Topics include positive and negative reinforcement, conditioning, and environmental cues as factors in the addiction and relapse processes. You will gain a sense of the scope of addiction research and awareness of its primary methodologies and will strengthen your skills in accessing and reading research literature.

Prerequisites

Successful completion of the first course in the program, NURS 445A "The Brain's Reward System," is required, as the material in this course assumes you have knowledge gained in that course.

Course Schedule

This group-start course allows you to log on and complete your course work at a time of your choosing as long as you keep pace with the group. To ensure the group is progressing at the same pace, and thus maximize opportunities for collegial exchange of ideas and resources, follow the established deadlines for completing each lesson.

Course Objectives

After successfully completing this course, you will be able to

• correctly define key physiological concepts related to addiction;
• list and describe at least two methods used in addiction research;
• list and describe at least two classes of drugs of abuse, their mechanism of action, and selected pharmacological treatment options;
• formulate essential questions for evaluating addiction literature; and
• build a customized list of online resources in order to keep current on the research connected to the mechanisms of addiction.

Course Materials

Textbooks

These two textbooks are familiar to you from the first course in this sequence. A Primer of Drug Action (Julien) is the text on neuropsychopharmacology written for students with little medical or biological background.

Drugs, Behavior, and Modern Society is particularly notable for the attention given to two aspects of drug-taking behavior often underreported in other texts—steroid abuse and inhalant abuse. The text also highlights the impact of dietary supplements on the current drug scene; the impact of "club drugs" on contemporary drug-taking behavior; and the recent increase in the abuse of prescription pain relief medications such as OxyContin.

Online Reading

Some lessons will include full-text articles available as .pdf documents attached to the lesson or online from professional Web sites.

Technology

In order to participate in this course, you will need to be able to:

• Send and receive electronic mail.
• Access the World Wide Web using either Internet Explorer or Netscape Web browsers of version 5.0 or higher.
• Use the Catalyst electronic discussion and quiz tools.
• Read an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file.
• open and use a PowerPoint presentation.

If you have questions about how to set up your computer or software in order to participate, e-mail UW Online Technical Support at dltechsupp@extn.washington.edu. Please indicate the course you are taking. You may also call (206) 543-2320 or (800) 543-2320; fax (206) 543-0887; or call (206) 543-0898 (TTY) between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Information about how to use the electronic discussion forum and the online quiz tool is available from the Catalyst home page. If you encounter difficulty using any of these tools, please e-mail UW Online Technical Support at dltechsupp@extn.washington.edu.

About the Lessons

This course is divided into ten lessons. Each lesson features insights to help your understanding and input on how to best interact with the materials you encounter.

Lesson One: Introduction to Mechanisms of Addiction, Part 1

Reviews definitions related to the addictive process and covers the sequence of events involved in addiction. It also discusses why a drug is addictive or not, what site in the brain a drug affects, and how the body handles a drug.

Lesson Two: Introduction to Mechanisms of Addiction, Part 2

Defines and explains tolerance, sensitization, withdrawal, and relapses, and discusses how and why these phenomena develop.

Lesson Three: Nondrug-Related Factors Influencing the Addictive Process

Looks at the role of nondrug-related factors influencing the addictive process. It introduces the effects of learning, memory, cues, and stress on the addictive process.

Lesson Four: Nondrug-Related Factors—Recapitulation and New Research

Continues the discussion of the role of nondrug-related factors by further analyzing the effect of stress on the addictive process. It also introduces some new research findings regarding the role of sensitization and memory in the addictive process.

Lesson Five: Methods in Addiction Research

Examines techniques used in addiction research, including self-administration, conditioned place preference procedures, microdialysis, and imaging. Strategies for identifying research techniques used in addiction research via Pub Med are introduced and practiced.

Lesson Six: Psychomotor Stimulants

Introduces psychomotor stimulants as a class of drugs of abuse, including amphetamines, cocaine, methylphenidate, and nicotine.

Lesson Seven: Opioids

Discusses the opioids—with emphasis on morphine, heroin, and OxyContin.

Lesson Eight: Central Nervous System Depressants

Considers central nervous system (CNS) depressants, including ethanol, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines.

Lesson Nine: Mind-Altering Drugs and Mood Modifiers

Part 1 focuses on mind-altering drugs and mood modifiers, including hallucinogenic drugs belonging to the LSD, mescaline, and phencyclidine classes. Part 2 covers how marijuana in the form of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol acts as a mood modifier.

Lesson Ten: Synthesizing and Looking Ahead

This course wrap-up discusses establishing a professional network and continuing discussions of issues related to your field, as well as organizing and maintaining your e-Notebook and an electronic resource list.

About the Activities

Except where noted, each lesson includes the following activities:

• required reading
• Guiding Question
• maintaining an e-Notebook
• a Web Resource Review (not in Lesson Ten)
• a quiz (not in Lesson Ten)
• assignment

Assigned Readings

Reading in each lesson includes the online narrative and selected sections of the textbook. Some lessons also have accompanying print or electronic articles. As you read, please keep in mind the Key Terms provided in each lesson. This course is rich in terminology, but do not feel compelled to memorize all the terms. The point in becoming familiar with them is to have a solid understanding of the concepts addressed and sufficient terminology to be able to participate in educational discourse about addiction research.

Guiding Questions

Guiding Questions help you develop your thoughts about course content and consider issues this content brings up in your workplace. We encourage you to put your comments, insights, and answers related to these questions in an electronic diary, or "e-Notebook" as you work your way through each lesson.

e-Notebook

You will keep an e-Notebook so you can record definitions of key terms and responses to Guiding Questions as you read. This information will be useful as you prepare for your assignments, quizzes, and post-test.

Your e-Notebook does not require new hardware or software. It is a simple word-processed document or documents that you routinely open on your computer, type or copy/paste materials into, and save as a cumulative repository of ideas, insights, and resources relevant to your professional interests in addiction.

Web Resources Review

Each lesson presents an annotated selection of Web Resources, sites and articles, selected to enhance your understanding of the concepts featured in that lesson. These resources appear in a separate Internet browser window so you can "bookmark" or "add to favorites" any that interest you. This course has rich online learning resources. However, because it is easy to get involved in interesting Web sites and lose track of both your purpose and your time, we give you guidance on where to focus your attention. See the Evaluating Web Sites page for suggestions of what to look for when reviewing a site.

Quizzes

Lessons One through Nine each have an associated quiz. To prepare for the quizzes, review the key terms, questions for each activity, and assigned readings. Taking the quizzes is required, and you will receive credit for completing them, but they do not receive a grade. If you submit your quiz by the posted date, you receive participation credit and a corrected response sheet.

If you do not understand a question you missed, refer to the same resources you used to prepare for the quiz. If that is not sufficient, use the "Ask the Professor" forum linked to the course syllabus Web page to ask your instructors for clarification, citing what you found in the references to support your query.

Assignments

The assignments in this final course are all "Real World Connection" discussion forums that give you opportunities to share your thoughts about concepts related to class content, discuss issues this content brings up in your workplace, and interact with each other in order to develop a professional network of individuals interested in the field of addiction.

Instructions for completion accompany each assignment. In these discussion assignments, you read and think about an issue, post your insights to a discussion forum, and read and respond to other postings.

Submission Guidelines

Assignments will be submitted online to an Assignment Forum as either individual message posts or posts with attachments.

Quizzes are submitted through an online quiz tool.

Due dates are found on the Course Syllabus, and links to the forums and quizzes are found on the Online Tools page on your Course Syllabus.

Complete all activities, assignment posting and responses, quizzes, and "Ask the Professor" queries by midnight Sunday the week of the lesson. This will give your instructors three days to respond to assignments and questions—by midnight the following Wednesday.

Assessment and Grading

On successfully completing this course, you will earn five Continuing Education Units (CEUs) 50 clock-hours. The course is graded "successful" or "non-successful completion." To earn CEUs you must complete all activities, quizzes, and assignments by the assigned dates at a sufficient level to acquire 80 percent of the total points. See the grading rubric for details.

Feedback

In most cases, instructors will provide group feedback to assignments to summarize general issues in understanding key concepts. Group feedback will be posted following the assignment posting deadline in the related discussion forum. Other feedback to any specific individual is at the discretion of the instructors.

The instructors will monitor the forums and provide synthesis or comments as appropriate. They will post these comments in the related discussion forum whenever appropriate or within 48 hours from the discussion assignment deadline. Please note that online discussions are a means for exchanging ideas among participants. The role of instructors in the discussion is mainly one of facilitation. They will steer away from individual conversations there, and try to frame responses synthesizing information for the whole group.

Grading

Your instructors share the tasks associated with this online course according to their individual expertise. These tasks include providing feedback, grading, and answering questions.

Assignments are worth up to 3 points.

Your instructors will track the points assigned to you for the quizzes and assignments. They will also contact anyone they feel is in danger of not passing due to missing work and will notify the certificate Program Manager.

Communicating with Your Instructors

Please see the "About Your Instructors" section linked to the syllabus for contact information.

Instructor Feedback

Your instructors will log on to the course site approximately every 48 hours, but are available by e-mail for your questions, comments, and concerns in between. If you have a personal question you do not wish to post in a forum, or if you urgently need to reach your instructors, you may e-mail them. You will find their e-mail addresses in the "About Your Instructors" section linked to the syllabus. Instructors will post feedback in the appropriate assignment forum.

"Ask the Professor" Discussion Forum

If you have questions related to the content of a reading, activity, lesson, or assignment, please post them on the "Ask the Professor" forum linked to the syllabus. An instructor will respond to your questions in that same forum. It is preferable that you interact with your instructors on content questions in this forum rather than by e-mail so all can benefit from the exchange.

"Instructor Bulletin Board "Announcements

The instructors will post announcements to the entire class in the "Instructor Bulletin Board." Please check this forum every time you log on to the course.

Managing Your Time Online

This group-start course allows you to log on and complete your course work at a time of your choosing as long as you keep pace with the group. To ensure the group is progressing at the same pace, and thus maximize opportunities for collegial exchange of ideas and resources, there are deadlines for the completion of each lesson. These deadlines are outlined in the Course Schedule linked to the syllabus. We expect you to adhere to them.

To succeed in this class, plan to spend 9 to 12 hours per week on course-related work. Time management is a key part of success in almost all distance learning courses. A good strategy is to quickly scan the entire lesson before you allocate time to each activity within that lesson. It is important to stay in tune with the course schedule to maximize your benefits from the cohort interaction. This online course will be archived and not accessible shortly after the course end date. It is extremely important to complete all your required work by the indicated deadlines.

You may wish to print all or parts of the online lesson narratives for reference in the later courses in the certificate sequence.

We hope this course will challenge you, "stretch your brain," and provide an enjoyable learning experience. We look forward to extending the relationships and learning begun in the first course!

---

©2008, University of Washington. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.