Critical Appraisal of Evidence: HLSC122 Assessment 3, Semester 1, 2019

This report presents a critical appraisal of a research paper by Day et al. (2018) examining illicit drug use, knowledge, and practices among music festival attendees. The student analyzes the paper's authorship, research questions, design, methods, results, and limitations, providing a comprehensive critique of its strengths and weaknesses. The appraisal is supported by relevant academic references. Furthermore, the report applies the research findings to a case scenario involving Emily and her mother, discussing the enablers and barriers to the uptake of the research findings in practice. The student concludes by summarizing the implications of drug testing services at music festivals, advocating for a nuanced understanding of the issue and its impact on the behaviours of the attendees.

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Healthcare
Student name:
Student number:
HLSC122 Semester 1, 2019
Assessment 3: Critical appraisal of evidence
Word count: 1,217
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Full 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), pp. 1-7.
Introduction
In a global scale, significantly increased rates of the use of illegal drug have been
reported among the attendees of music festivals (Roman-Urrestarazu et al., 2013).
Similar findings are also evident in Australia but at significantly higher rates of the intake
of illicit drugs compared to the universal population (Jenkinson, Bowring, Dietze,
Hellard, & Lim, 2014). There exist conflicting studies that the use of drug checking tests
at music parties influences the behaviors of illicit drug users and promotes the use of
illicit drugs. This paper aims at critiquing the above-cited research article with the aim of
examining its credibility and determining if drug testing at music festivals encourages
drug use among teenagers or not. Emily’s mother will also be advised accordingly
based on the findings of the study.
PART A – Critical appraisal
Authorship
All the authors have different affiliations to different academic institutions and fields. For
instance, harm reduction and health promotion programs, school of medicine, university
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centre for rural health and public health. All these affiliations are an indication that the
authors have the necessary academic qualifications and experience in their fields.
There is the possibility of a conflict of interest among the researchers if they had initially
been involved in studies on harm reduction strategies. Especially, if the current findings
contradict their initial findings
Research questions
The study purposed to examine the percentage and trend of illegal consumption of
substances among teenagers, their perceptions regarding drug checking at music
festivities and the likely effect of drug tests on planned intake of drug.
The authors provide four main justifications for the study. Firstly, there is an increasing
frequency of the consumption of illegal drugs among Australian teenagers with 42.6% of
them having indicated to have consumed illegal drugs before and 15.6% of them in the
past 30 days (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2017). Secondly, attendees of
such functions have high levels of the intake of toxic drugs compared with their
counterparts in the general population (Roman-Urrestarazu et al., 2013). Thirdly,
research on harm reduction strategies such as drug checking services has been
critiqued as whether it condones illegal drug use (Gotsis, Angus, & Roth, 2016) or
positively influences drug user behaviour (Ventura, Noijen, Bücheli, Isvy, & Van Hurck,
2013). Moreover, the accuracy of drug detection testing kits is questionable (Hedrich,
2010). There is, therefore, the need for a comprehensive insight into the attitudes and
behaviours of music festival attendees and consumers of drugs on the effectiveness of
drug checking services at music festivals; a gap which the authors aim to fill.
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Research design
The authors used a survey approach in the study. A survey method is a technique of
data collection in which potential participants are requested to provide given information
relevant to the study aim through asking questions. The study subjects were questioned
regarding their personal profiles, illegal intake of drugs and perceptions on drug testing
on-site. Surveys are most appropriate when describing the characteristics of a large
population (Bell, Bryman, & Harley, 2018). However, the authors have not provided
justification for choosing a survey approach.
Research methods
The study participants were selected using a paper-based survey. This is a type of
survey research in which information is collected from a sample by having them
respond in writing to specific relevant questions to the study. The participants aged 18-
30 years were recruited and notified of the intended study. They were then served with
paper surveys which had specific questions relevant to the study objective. After
anonymously completing the paper surveys, they were placed in a closed box for
purposes of confidentiality. Paper surveys have high response rates and are more
anonymous but are costly in terms of printing and require more researchers to conduct
the exercise. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test; which is appropriate for
determining the existence of the relationship between two categorical variables (Rana &
Singhal, 2015) and t-test; which is important when determining statistical significant
difference between the means of two continuous variables (Orcher, 2016).
Results and limitations
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The study findings comprehensively answer the research aim which was to examine the
percentage and trend of illegal intake of drugs by teenagers, their perceptions on drug
testing services at music festivals and the likely effect of such services on planned drug
use conduct. The findings indicated that 73.4% of the respondents had used illegal
drugs in the last year, with 63.9% and 59.8% of them having used cannabis and ecstasy
respectively. This confirms that the aim of examining the percentage and trend of the
intake of drugs among teenagers was attained. 86.5% of the subjects consented that
drug testing services are effective in reducing harm and ought to include counselling
sessions (84.9%), and would not take the drugs if the results showed they were harmful
(Day et al., 2018). By this, the researchers gained information on the attitude of the
participants towards drug checking services.
The study limitations significantly affect the application of the outcomes of the study.
The use of a convenience sample in the study is likely to affect its representativeness in
the general population. Additionally, the generalizability of the study is likely to be
limited due to the prevalence of female participants; an aspect which doesn’t tally with
the global data that the male use more illegal drugs than the females.
PART B – Application of evidence to practice
The study found out that 86.5% of the attendees of music festival were positive that
drug checking services reduce harm, with 68.6% being of the view that such services
are used by drug sellers as a mechanism for quality control. Furthermore, approximately
57% of the participants observed that they would not take drugs whose test results
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showed that they contained illicit substances. Based on these findings it is clear that the
probability of taking illicit drugs at a music party due to drug testing found on-site are
relatively low, and thus Emily’s mother can rely on these findings to decide whether to
allow her to attend the music festival.
However, Emily’s mother may not reliably depend on the outcomes of the study
because of the significant limitations of the study. The findings may not accurately
represent the general population because they used a convenience sample.
Additionally, the generalizability of the study is likely to be limited because of the high
prevalence of the female users of illicit drugs (60.5%) contrary to the national statistics
of the high prevalence of the intake of illicit drugs among males (Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare, 2017). This might skew the findings.
Conclusion
Music festivals are continuously viewed as the hub for illicit drug use among teenagers,
hence the need for the implementation of the strategy of drug testing in order to
minimize the harm caused by the illicit use of drugs. Most of the young attendees of the
musical festival had a background of substance abuse use and supported the provision
of drug checking services on-site, either at a cost or for free. Most of the participants
consent that the drug tests would positively impact their behaviors of illegal drug
consumption. As a result, this strategy will significantly reduce the intake of dangerous
drugs, thus reducing the subsequent harm. Emily’s mother should therefore change her
to believe that drug testing services at music festivals promote the intake of illegal
drugs.
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References
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.
Bell, E., Bryman, A., & Harley, B. (2018). Business research methods (3rd ed.). Oxford:
Oxford university press.
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), pp. 1-7.
Gotsis T., Angus C., & Roth L. (2016). Illegal drug use and possession: current policy
and debates. Retrieved from https://apo.org.au/node/66249
Hedrich, D. (2010). Harm reduction: evidence, impacts and challenges (1st ed.). Lisbon,
Portugal: NCJRS.
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, 1-6.
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Orcher, L. T. (2016). Conducting research: Social and behavioral science methods (2nd
ed.). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Rana, R., & Singhal, R. (2015). Chi-square test and its application in hypothesis
testing. Journal of the Practice of Cardiovascular Sciences, 1(1), 69-71.
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, 400-450.
Ventura, M., Noijen, J., Bücheli, A., Isvy, A., & Van Hurck, C. (2013). Drug checking
service: good practice standards. Nightlife Empowerment and Well-Being
Implementation Project (NEWIP), 1-108.
No./Name of student