Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs

Submit Abstract

The ATOD section invites abstracts in all areas pertaining to:
  • alcohol

  • tobacco

  • other drugs


  • Each year, members of the ATOD Section have the opportunity to present papers and research results during the 131st Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association. The Section typically sponsors over 50 Scientific Sessions, during which about 400 oral and poster presentations are made. Although this year’s Annual Meeting has just ended, preparations have already started for the 2003 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, November 15-19, 2003. The overall theme of the convention will be “Behavior, Lifestyle, and Social Determinants of Health”, which pertains to virtually all topics in our field.

    The Section encourages members interested in health services research, media, advocacy, public policy, prevention and treatment to submit abstracts for 2003. Topics of particular interest include:
    • Advocacy in All Venues
    • Alcohol - Policy
    • Alcohol - Prevention
    • Alcohol - Treatment
    • ATOD In General
    • Best Practices in Prevention, Screening, Treatment and Aftercare
    • Co-Morbidities
    • Early Detection and Screening for Substance Use
    • Effective Treatment and Aftercare
    • Evaluations, Performance Measures, and Cost-effectiveness Studies
    • Integration of Substance Use Treatment with Mental or Physical Health Care
    • International Comparisons and Impacts
    • Miscellaneous (Catch All Category)
    • Models of Science-Based Prevention and Coordinated Community and Legal Action
    • Multi-Drug Use
    • Other Drugs - Policy
    • Prevention Measures that Address all Addictive Substances and Access by Minors
    • Rejected Abstracts
    • Relationship of Substance Use and Health Outcomes
    • Risk Behaviors and HIV, HBV, and HCV Injections Among Young Adult IDUs: CIDUS III/Drug Users Intervention Trial
    • Special Problems of Special Populations
    • Tobacco - Cessation
    • Tobacco - Policy
    • Tobacco - Prevention
    Abstracts are submitted electronically through the APHA Web site, < www.apha.org >. The Web site provides complete instructions on the length and format of abstracts and the information required on authors. Electronic submission is scheduled to open December 20, 2002. The deadline for submissions is February 15, 2003.

    Abstracts may be designated “Oral Only”, “Poster Only”, or “No Preference”. Last year, the ATOD Section received over 500 abstracts. We expect more this year and will have even fewer slots for presentations. We will not be able to accept all of this year's submissions. Many excellent abstracts have previously not been accepted because they were marked “Oral Only” when the Program Committee selected the specific topic for a poster session due to the large number of high quality submissions. Fewer slots are available for oral presentations than for posters, and you are encouraged to designate your abstract “No Preference”. Please give the Program Committee as many options as possible to accept your paper. Thank you.

    The ATOD Section selects abstracts through a multi-tier peer-review process. Abstracts are evaluated on importance and originality of the research or advocacy project, quality and description of the subject matter, clarity and interest of the presentation, quality and completeness of the supporting data and philosophy, and relation to overall Section priorities. Topical sessions are then assembled from high-ranked abstracts.

    SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR SESSION PROPOSALS
    We also invite submissions for session proposals (90 minutes in length). There may be 1 to 2 open timeslots available for us to consider these types of requests; we generally receive about 10 to 15 such applications. Session proposals are more likely to be accepted if they are submitted along with each individual presentation abstract. This complete package gives the reviewers more substance from which to judge the overall merits of the proposal. These special submissions should contain:
    1. An overall session abstract, which includes a rationale for the session, the proposed paper titles, author(s), order of presentation, and length of time for each person;
    2. Clearly label the overall session abstract as SESSION ABSTRACT - “your proposed session title” (you fill in the italicized part) on the electronic submission page form when entering your proposal; this can be edited later;
    3. The proposed moderator and discussant (if applicable);
    4. Be sure that each individual proposed presentation submits a separate abstract under the same restricted “category” (session title), otherwise they may become lost in the shuffle;
    5. Put contact information (phone and e-mail) for person in charge of session directly on the overall session abstract so we can contact you easily; and
    6. Indicate whether or not you would like to have the individual abstracts considered for presentation in other sessions, if your proposed session is not accepted. Please state, “YES, I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE ABSTRACTS CONSIDERED SEPARATELY” or “NO, I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE THESE ABSTRACTS CONSIDERED SEPARATELY”.

    Proposals submitted for entire sessions will be ranked in competition with separately submitted abstracts, and the session topic will be weighed against the topics of interest for the Annual Meeting as well as the topics addressed in separately submitted abstracts.

    Notification of acceptance or rejection is sent in May by e-mail to the contact person designated in the abstract submission. Presenters are notified of date, time and location of their sessions during the summer. Information detailing the ATOD Section’s Preliminary Program and Final Program will be available on the ATOD Section Web site at http://www.northeastcapt.org/apha

    Program Planner Contact Information:
    Barry Bleidt, PhD, PharmD
    Assistant Dean for Student and Professional Affairs
    School of Pharmacy Loma Linda University
    Professor and Chair, Social and Administrative Sciences
    Room 1307, West Hall
    Loma Linda, CA 92350
    Phone: 909-558-4885
    Fax: 909-558-4859
    bbleidt@rx.llu.edu