Critical Appraisal of Research on Drug Use in Music Festivals: HLSC122

This report presents a critical appraisal of a research article exploring illicit drug use, knowledge, and practices among music festival attendees. The study, conducted at an Australian music festival, surveyed young adults aged 18-30 to assess their drug consumption patterns and attitudes toward drug checking. The appraisal examines the research's methodology, including the cross-sectional design and quantitative methods, highlighting the strengths and limitations. The findings reveal a high prevalence of illicit drug use, particularly ecstasy and cannabis, and positive attitudes toward drug checking as a harm reduction strategy. The report then applies the research findings to a case study involving a young woman attending a music festival, discussing the implications of drug checking for informing young people about the risks and composition of illicit drugs. Finally, the report concludes that critical appraisal enhances understanding of the topic, emphasizing the potential of drug checking as a health promotion tool for young people and the need for further research in this area.

Running head: CRITICAL APPRAISAL
CRITICAL APPRAISAL
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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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), 1
Introduction
The essay highlights the concept of critical appraisal of the journal article based on
the concept of drug checking and high prevalence rate of drug consumption among young
people in any festivals. The attitude and behaviour of the young adults towards drug
consumption is explained in the research article (Measham, 2019). Critical appraisal of
research article is considered as the systematic process that is sued to recognize the strengths
and weakness of the research article to evaluate the validity and usefulness of the research
findings. The essay consists of two different parts were the first part explains the critical
appraisal of the research article that revolves around the concept of drug checking in music
festival and the attitude of young people present in the music festival regarding consumption
of illicit drug. The second part of the essay will revolve around the case study of Emily, who
was going to attend a music festival in Melbourne and the application of drug checking on
her (Day et al., 2018).
Part A- Critical Appraisal
Authorship
Authorship is defined as the process of providing origin, affiliation and specialty of
the contributors or authors who are accountable for generating an academic journal articles
and further emphasising on the key evidence of the article (Kamuf, 2018). Authorship is the
process of providing recognition to the included authors who have contributed to the

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generation of research article and thus are responsible of their own work. In the journal
articles there were eight researchers who have contributed and participated in the research
and published the paper on consumption of illicit drug by participants of music festival. Out
of eight, seven scholars were affiliated from School of Medicine in University of western
Sydney situated in Sydney, Australia (Day et al., 2018).
Research Question
The aim of the research paper as explained by the researchers was to explore the
method and quantity of drug consumers within the young generation of population in
between the age of 18 to 30 and also assess the attitude and behaviour of young people
present in the music festival (Day et al., 2018). The paper revolves around the concept of
drug checking and evaluating the behaviour of the participants regarding consumption of
illicit drug. The researcher had focused on drug checking concept because the drug
consumption rate is extremely high in young generation and they tend to become a drug
addict (Barratt et al., 2018). They had conducted this research on young people present in
music festival as the prevalence rate of drug consumers are high in such festivals when
compared to normal people.
Research Design
A cross-sectional research design approach was used by the researchers. Cross-
sectional research design is used because this design includes diverse set of people with
different set of interest and psychological thinking. In the research article, 1365 adolescents
were used as participants and were included in the survey (Day et al., 2018). The group of
adolescents used were in between the age of 18 to 35, which is considered as the peak age of
drug consumption. Hence, the researcher used this age group to identify the general

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behaviour and attitude of young people while consuming illicit drug as they have no idea
regarding the purity and composition of the drug (Grigg, Barratt & Lenton, 2018).

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Research Method
Quantitative research method was used by the research accompanied by few experts
in the study where they conducted a survey on alcohol and drug consumption in public health
arena and focusing on the sexual and health promotion (Luther et al., 2018). Open-ended
questionnaire method was used by the researcher were they generated different set of
question that would help them to understand their attitude and behaviour in regards to illicit
drug consumption in music festivals. Two groups were divided by the researches were they
used pilot testing method (Day et al., 2018). The question set by the researcher focused on the
mind-set of the young population regarding drug consumption and the reason of not taking
interest in identifying the composition and purity of the drug they have consumed.
Descriptive data analysis method was used to analyse the result by the researchers and review
the answers of the participants who have participated in the open-ended questionnaire.
Result and Limitation
642 participants had precipitated in the survey out of which three-quarter of the
participants have consumed illicit drug once in their life time in past 1 year and the most
common type of drug sued was ecstasy and cannabis (Day et al., 2018). From the research it
was evident that the participants had a positive response on drug checking as it had helped
them to understand the negative affect of drug consumption on their health and the harmful
composition of drugs that can have an adverse health effects on them. The participants
conveyed that because of drug checking they had gained knowledge on the purity and
composition of illicit drug and they were aware not to use drugs which are made up of
contents like para-methoxyamphetamine, ketamine and methamphetamine. Hence, from the
study it was evident that drug checking can be sued as a health promotion strategy by the
drug consumers and reduce the rate of drug consumption among teenagers. The limitation

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highlighted in the case study was that the participants used in the survey were majorly
females and hence the result was bias and not very efficient because it was observed that rate
of drug consumption is higher in males as compared to females. Second limitation was that
high rate of research biasness was seen because of self-reporting strategy.
Part B- Application of evidence to practice
In the case study Emily was attending music festival that was happening in
Melbourne but Emily’s mother was not happy with Emily attending the music festival. Her
mother was concerned because of the high incidence rate of drug testing and drug
consumption in music festivals and assumed that drug checking procedure can encourage
Emily in consuming illicit drugs (Nguyen, 2018). The misconception that her mother had
regarding drug checking was highlighted in the case study. From the research article it was
evident drug checking assist the young people to gain knowledge about drugs and the purity
level of the drug. Hence, this procedure would assist Emily in understanding the injurious
effect of consuming drugs and identifying the harmful composition of drug (Ruest et al.,
2018). It was evident from the result that drug checking do have a beneficial and positive
effect on the young adolescents helping them to gain understanding regarding the harmful
composition of illicit drugs that can have an adverse health effect. Therefore, the concept of
drug checking should be used and conducted in such festivals allowing young people to have
better understanding and knowledge of the illicit drug and use this method as health
promotion strategy (Day et al., 2018).

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Conclusion
From this essay it can be concluded that critical appraisal of research article help the
normal people to gain better understanding and knowledge of the topic. The concept of drug
checking was explained in the research article that gave a detail insight on the high rate of
drug consumption in young people and their attitude towards not knowing the contents and
purity of the illicit drug. The essay also highlights the case study of Emily who was going to
attend a music festival and was not aware of drug checking procedure. Hence, drug checking
in music festival do have a beneficial effect on young people helping them to gain
understanding and knowledge of the consumed illicit drug.

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References
Barratt, M. J., Bruno, R., Ezard, N., & Ritter, A. (2018). Pill testing or drug checking in
Australia: acceptability of service design features. Drug and alcohol review, 37(2),
226-236.
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
Grigg, J., Barratt, M. J., & Lenton, S. (2018). Drug detection dogs at Australian outdoor
music festivals: Deterrent, detection and iatrogenic effects. International Journal of
Drug Policy, 60, 89-95.
Kamuf, P. (2018). Signature pieces: on the institution of authorship. Cornell University Press
Luther, M., Gardiner, F., Lenson, S., Caldicott, D., Harris, R., Sabet, R., ... & Perkins, J.
(2018). An effective risk minimization strategy applied to an outdoor music festival: a
multi-agency approach. Prehospital and disaster medicine, 33(2), 220-224.
Measham, F. C. (2019). Drug safety testing, disposals and dealing in an English field:
Exploring the operational and behavioural outcomes of the UK’s first onsite ‘drug
checking’service. International Journal of Drug Policy, 67, 102-107.
Nguyen, T. T. (2018). " Everyone's Doing It": Ecstasy and Other Substance Use among
Asian Americans. California State University, Long Beach.
Ruest, S. M., Stephan, A. M., Masiakos, P. T., Biddinger, P. D., Camargo, C. A., &
Kharasch, S. (2018). Substance use patterns and in-hospital care of adolescents and
young adults attending music concerts. Addiction science & clinical practice, 13(1),
1.

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