NURS20178 - Alcohol and Other Drugs

General Information

Unit Synopsis

The use and misuse of licit and illicit drugs is a serious and complex problem in Australia, giving rise to broad health, socio-cultural, legal, ethical, and economic concerns, including stigma. In this unit, you will examine the use and misuse of licit and illicit drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and other substances. You will interrogate the theories and models of dependency and addiction; and appraise the national and international policies, legal and ethical frameworks, and approaches to screening, assessing for, and addressing dependencies and addictions. Finally, you will discuss the effectiveness of prevention programs, counselling strategies, techniques such as motivational interviewing, and evidence-based approaches to reducing harm to diverse individuals, families, and the community to achieve long-term change.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 8
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band 7
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

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2026 - Online
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Higher Education Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 60%
2. Case Study 40%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

Previous Feedback

No previous feedback available

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Discuss the use and misuse of licit and illicit drugs in Australia, including the associated health, legal, ethical, economic, and socio-cultural concerns, including stigma.
  2. Interrogate the nature of dependency and addiction to licit and illicit substances, including the development of tolerance and withdrawal symptoms.
  3. Investigate the theories and models of dependency and addiction.
  4. Appraise the national and international policies, legal and ethical frameworks, and approaches to screening, assessing, and addressing dependencies and addictions.
  5. Evaluate the screening and assessment tools for dependency and addiction to substances and the evidence-based interventions used to support diverse groups of people, including prevention programs, counselling strategies, harm-minimisation, and abstinence.
  6. Debate the legal and ethical issues arising for health professionals when managing the challenging behaviours sometimes exhibited by population groups who misuse illicit substances.

Provisionally accredited with The Australian College of Mental Health Nurses (ACMHN).

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Written Assessment • • • •
2 - Case Study • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Knowledge • • • • • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • • •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8