Music Festival Attendees' Illicit Drug Use

This document provides a critical analysis of a study on music festival attendees' illicit drug use and the influence of drug testing services. The study found that drug testing services at music festivals can influence drug consumption behavior. However, the study has limitations that affect the generalizability of the findings.

Running head: Assignment 1
Nursing Assignment
by
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Assignment 2
Reference
Day, N., Criss, J., Griffiths, B., Gujral, S. K., John-Leader, F., Johnston, J., & Pit, S. (2018).
Music festival attendees’ illicit drug use, knowledge and practices regarding drug content
and purity: a cross-sectional survey. Harm reduction journal, 15(1), 1-8. DOI
10.1186/s12954-017-0205-7.
PART A
Introduction
The consumption of illicit drugs by Australian teenagers stands at 8.5 million according to the
2016 survey (AIHW, 2017). On a global scale, the attendees of music festivals consume large
amounts of unlawful drugs more than the overall population and of the same age bracket
(Roman-Urrestarazu et al., 2018). Drug checking services as strategies have been executed as a
harm reduction approach, however, there is a lot of criticism as to its effectiveness. This paper
purposes to critically analyze the study by Day et al. (2018) to determine whether drug testing
services influence the illicit drug user behaviours or actually encourages it. The outcomes of the
critical analysis will be used to advise Emily’s mother accordingly.
Authorship
The seven authors have different affiliations in different fields. This is an indication that they are
experienced in the subject area they are handling. The authors work in fields that are relevant to
the subject they are handling. Furthermore, the contributions of each author were done based on
the area of specialization with most of them taking multiple roles. The article does not provide
the education credentials of the authors but this can be extrapolated from the institutions of their

Assignment 3
affiliation. The institutions of affiliation include the school of medicine, medical school among
others. These can be interpreted to mean that the authors have at least advanced degrees.
There is the possibility of researcher bias since the authors used convenience sampling (Etikan,
Musa, & Alkassim, 2016). Since the authors are affiliated to institutions of research it's possible
that they had initially come across a relatively similar study and therefore may influence the
results to portray the desired outcome.
Research Questions, aim or hypothesis
The research question for the study was “what is the knowledge and practices regarding the
content and purity of illegal drugs by the attendees of a music festival?”.
The consumption of illicit drugs by Australian teenagers stands at 8.5 million according to the
2016 survey (AIHW, 2017). The study by Jenkinson, Bowring, Dietze, Hellard, and Lim (2014)
on adolescents reported that 52% of the teenagers had at one time taken illegal drugs, with 25%
having taken the drugs within the past 30 days. The illegal drugs sold at music festivals have
serious consequences because they include other substances such as methylone. As a result, the
users are likely to suffer from seizures, hyperthermia, multi-organ failure and even death (NIDA,
2018). Due to the seriousness of the issue, governments have implemented the unspecified drug
testing services during festivals as a strategy to help reduce harm. There has been support and
criticism of the strategy with others claiming that the strategy is worthwhile because it influences
user behaviour (Groves, 2018), others argue that it encourages the use consumption of illegal
drugs and it’s not even accurate (Gotsis, Angus, & Roth, 2016). The study purposed to establish
whether the execution of drug testing services at music festivals influence drug use behaviour or
codons it. The attitudes and views of the users were examined to achieve this objective.

Assignment 4
Research Design
The study used a survey research approach and justified it using previous studies that used it and
were relative of the same subject area in addition to the fact that the team were experts in the
field of human health. Survey research is much more appropriate when describing trends such as
trends in the intake of illicit drugs by teenagers. Moreover, surveys are significant in identifying
the attitudes and beliefs of people (Fowler, 2013).
Research Methods
Study subjects were recruited based on the inclusion criteria. The subjects had to be aged 18 to
30 years and attendees of the music festival. A participant information statement was used to
seek their consent. Questionnaires were used to gather data and then placed in a closed box to
ensure confidentiality. Moreover, an open-ended question was used and the outcomes coded
thematically to ascertain the drug content and purity. The surveys were conducted by
independent researchers not part of the study. Questionnaires are appropriate because they can
reach a large sample with relative ease and it's economical, however, they have limited choice of
responses which may lead to little or no valid information (Zohrabi, 2013).
Descriptive data analysis was used to analyze data, with the relationship between categorical
variables being measured using chi-square, and t tests for continuous variables. Descriptive
analysis is important in showing a summary and trends in the subject matter. However, it may
not provide an in-depth analysis of the causal mechanism between study variables (Zohrabi,
2013).
Results and Limitation of the Study

Assignment 5
The outcomes of the research answered the research question. The study found out that 73.4% of
the attendees had consumed the illicit drug in the past year. 86.5% were of the opinion that drug
testing services ought to be offered on site, whereas 54.4% of them would certainly use the drug
checking services at the festival, and would thus influence their drug use behaviour.
The limitations of the study affect the application of the outcomes of the study in multiple ways.
The use of a convenience sample of the attendees limits the representativeness of the study. This
implies that the outcomes may not be true regarding the general population. Moreover, the
female participants were much more than the men; a scenario that is in contradiction to the
national data which shows that men consume more illegal drugs than females 1. This limits its
generalizability meaning that the outcomes cannot be applied to the general population.
PART B
Day et al. (2018) found out that drug testing influences drug consumption behaviour and the
services should be provided at every festival. One of the enablers of the study is that it is the first
largest survey carried out at music festivals, and measuring the views and attitudes of the
attendees. Larger sample sizes tend to give more reliable results with higher precision and power
because it increases the confidence level and narrows down the margin of error (Suresh &
Chandrashekara, 2012). However, the study has limitations that override this major strength. For
instance, the prevalence of the female participants doesn’t tally with the existing national
statistics which indicate that more males use illicit drugs than females. This discrepancy will
limit the generalizability of the study to the general population and is likely to skew the
interpretation of the outcomes. Furthermore, there is the possibility of gender bias when
interpreting the findings. The representativeness of the outcomes of the research to the general

Assignment 6
population is also limited due to the use of a convenience sample. This implies that the outcomes
are less likely to be true or applicable to the general population.
Based on the above-cited limitations, it is difficult to fully rely on the conclusion of the study
that drug checking services influence drug consumption behaviour. Therefore, with regard to
Emily’s mother, she should not allow Emily to attend the music festival based on the outcomes
because the limitations of the study far much outweigh its strengths.
Conclusion
The consumption of illegal drugs at music festivals in Australia is still a public health problem.
The implementation of drug testing services as a strategy to reduce harm has received a lot of
support and criticism at the same time. The study found out that the attendees supported the
provision of the services at a cost and even for free, and that the outcomes are likely to impact
their drug-taking behaviours. However, the study has signficant limitations that even override the
outcomes thus making it difficult to fully rely on the outcomes for decision making. Emily’s
mother may have to still hold on to her believe that drug checking services promote the use of
illegal drugs.

Assignment 7
References
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare). (2017). National Drug Strategy Household
Survey 2016: detailed findings. Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/illicit-
use-of-drugs/ndshs-2016-detailed/report-editions
Day, N., Criss, J., Griffiths, B., Gujral, S. K., John-Leader, F., Johnston, J., & Pit, S. (2018).
Music festival attendees’ illicit drug use, knowledge and practices regarding drug content
and purity: a cross-sectional survey. Harm reduction journal, 15(1), 1-8. DOI
10.1186/s12954-017-0205-7.
Etikan, I., Musa, S. A., & Alkassim, R. S. (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and
purposive sampling. American journal of theoretical and applied statistics, 5(1), 1-4.
Fowler Jr, F. J. (2013). Survey research methods (5th ed.). Loss Angels, LA: Sage publications.
Gotsis, T., Angus, C., & Roth, L. (2016). Illegal drug use and possession: current policy and
debates. Retrieved from https://apo.org.au/node/66249
Groves, A. (2018). ‘Worth the test?’ Pragmatism, pill testing and drug policy in Australia. Harm
reduction journal, 15(1), 1-13.
Jenkinson, R., Bowring, A., Dietze, P., Hellard, M., & Lim, M. S. (2014). Young risk takers:
alcohol, illicit drugs, and sexual practices among a sample of music festival
attendees. Journal of sexually transmitted diseases, 2014, 1-7.
NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse). (2018). Drug facts: MDMA (Ecstasy/Molly).

Assignment 8
Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/mdma-ecstasymolly
Roman-Urrestarazu, A., Robertson, R., Yang, J., McCallum, A., Gray, C., McKee, M., &
Middleton, J. (2018). European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction:
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction has a vital role in the UK's
ability to respond to illicit drugs and organised crime. Bmj, 362-371.
Suresh, K. P., & Chandrashekara, S. (2012). Sample size estimation and power analysis for
clinical research studies. Journal of human reproductive sciences, 5(1), 1-7.
Zohrabi, M. (2013). Mixed Method Research: Instruments, Validity, Reliability and Reporting
Findings. Theory & practice in language studies, 3(2), 1-8.