Evidence-Based Practices Report: HLSC122 Assessment 3 Analysis

This report critically appraises the research article by Day et al. (2018) which examines illicit drug use, knowledge, and practices among music festival attendees, focusing on the effectiveness of drug checking services. The report begins with an introduction, followed by an analysis of the authorship, research questions, design, and methods. It discusses the study's findings, limitations, and the potential for bias. The report then considers a case scenario involving a mother's concerns about her daughter attending a music festival where drug testing is conducted. The assessment explores enablers and barriers related to the uptake of the research findings. The study used a survey design to collect data from attendees at an Australian music festival, revealing that a significant portion of the participants reported using illicit drugs. The report concludes by discussing the implications of the study's findings for health professionals and the need for further research, while also acknowledging the limitations of the study and the challenges in generalizing the results.

Running head: Evidence-based 1
Evidence-Based Practices
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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.
PART A
Introduction
The use of illicit drugs by teenagers attending music festivals has been on the rise compared to
the same age mates in the general population (Hungerbuehler, Buecheli, & Schaub, 2011;
Roman-Urrestarazu et al., 2018). Moreover, such drugs are inclusive of some substances, thus
making them more dangerous. Drug checking services have been adopted as a strategy to help
minimize the harm caused by such use of illicit drugs in Australian and internationally (NIDA,
2018). However, there exist contentions as to the effectiveness of such an approach. It is
reported that such a strategy encourages drug use and the accuracy of the testing kits is poor.
Others contend that drug checking services influence drug use behaviour. This paper aims at
critiquing the article by Day et al. (2016) with an objective of determining whether drug testing
at music festival fosters the use of illegal drugs among young people.
Authorship
All the authors of the article have affiliations in different areas relevant to the study, for example
in the school of medicine, public health, and rural health. However, the specific academic
qualifications of the authors have not been mentioned directly but they can be implied from their
different affiliations. The affiliations of the authors are a clear indication of their wealth of

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experience which is an advantage to the study because it increases its credibility. This is
evidenced by the multiple roles played by the authors during the study. For instance, each of the
authors had at least two contributions in data collection, analysis and drafting of the manuscript,
with all of them being engaged in the development of the study design and proofreading.
However, the authors used convenience sampling which is likely to result in systematic bias
when comparing the outcomes of the study to other populations (Acharya, Prakash, Saxena, &
Nigam, 2013). The authors might be influenced by their previous knowledge or expectations of
the study. Moreover, the fact that the authors are experts in the area of research and are affiliated
to research institutions can be grounds for researcher bias due to the observer-expectancy effect
(Smith & Noble, 2014).
Research Questions, aim or Hypothesis
The research question for the article was “what is the knowledge and practices of attendees of a
music festival; that use illicit drugs, about the content and purity of the drugs?
The use of illicit drugs by young adults of 14 years and above in Australia stands at 8.5 million
according to the 2016 survey, with the highest incidence being reported in the age group of 20-
29 years (AIHW, 2017). High levels of the use of illegal drugs have been reported in music
festivals compared to the rate of the use of the drugs by the same age group in the general
population (Roman-Urrestarazu et al., 2018). The drugs sold at music festivals have been mixed
with other substances that make them even more harmful. For instance, the consumption of such
drugs is likely to result in severe consequences such as hyperthermia, multi-organ failure and
seizures among others (Palamar, Salomone, Vincenti, & Cleland, 2016). As a result, the use of
drug checking services at the site of the festivals have been proposed and implemented as a

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strategy of harm reduction internationally (NIDA, 2018). However, there is contention as to the
effectiveness of the strategy in Australia. Some quarters argue that the strategy influences drug
user behaviour 15, whereas others contend that the governments are condoning the use of drugs
through such a strategy (Gotsis, Angus, Roth, 2016). Hence, the study aimed at determining the
effectiveness of drug checking services at music festivals by examining the prevalence of illicit
drug use among the youths, their attitude towards the service and its influence on planned drug
use behaviour.
Research Design
A survey research design was used in the study and the participants were the attendees of a major
music festival in Australia. The use of the design was justified by its previous use in other studies
such as in the 2016 survey by the Australian Institute of health and welfare (NIDA, 2018;
Hungerbuehle et al., 2011 and Hall et al., 2016). Additionally, the use of the survey design was
justified on the basis that the authors were professionals in the areas of public health, health
promotion and drug use.
Research Methods
The selection of the study participants was carried out using an inclusion criterion: the
participants had to attend the music festival and had to be aged 18-30 years. Potential
respondents had to first show their consent by filing in the participant information statement.
Questionnaires were used to collect data which were independently and anonymously dropped in
the survey box for purpose of confidentiality. Questionnaires are ideal for large sample sizes;
like that in the current study, because data collection is faster and economical. Moreover,
questionnaires allow for reliability check because they can easily be replicated. However, they

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do not provide in-depth details because of fixed responses which limit the respondents in
reflecting their actual feelings. Data analysis was accomplished using descriptive analysis. The
method provides basic features of the data, simple graphics for easy interpretation and
comparison. However, the method doesn’t provide an in-depth analysis of the causal mechanism
between study variables (Zohrabi, 2013).
Results and Limitation of the Study
The study answers the research question. the authors found out that 73.4% of the respondents
had used illegal drugs within the previous year, 86.5% of them consented that drug checking
services influenced their drug use behaviour. However, these outcomes may not be a
representative of the general population due to the use of a convenience sample. Moreover, the
preponderance of the female in the study limits the generalizability of the research because it
contradicts the existing national data that men are more consumers (60.5%) than women (NIDA,
2018). On the other hand, the study is the first to be conducted at a music festival to evaluate the
attitudes and knowledge of attendees on the illicit use of drugs. This forms a basis for further
research.
PART B
The study used the largest sample size ever used in the given area of research. This makes it
more representative and therefore can be used as a basis for decision making. However, the same
representativeness is further compromised by the use of a convenience sample. Moreover, the
generalizability of the study is limited due to the high prevalence of the use of illicit drugs by the
female. This is in direct contradiction with the national data statistics which indicate that men
have high preponderance (60.5%) (NIDA, 2018). of the use of illegal drugs than female.

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Furthermore, this is likely to skew the results and is a potential for gender bias. Based on these
observations, Emily’s mother should not allow her daughter to attend the music festival, because
of the current study is relatively reliable due to the multiple and significant limitations.
Conclusion
The use of illegal drugs by young people attending music festival is still a serious health issue
affecting the government of Australia despite the implementation of the drug checking services
for harm reduction. Almost three-quarters of the respondents indicated that they had consumed
illicit drugs before and supported the use of drug testing services in view of the fact that it would
positively influence their drug use behaviour. Emily’s mother could rely on these findings to
allow her daughter to attend the festival but the study has a lot of limitations that impact the
reliability and validity of its conclusion.

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References
Acharya, A. S., Prakash, A., Saxena, P., & Nigam, A. (2013). Sampling: Why and how of
it. Indian Journal of Medical Specialties, 4(2), 330-333.
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.
Gotsis T., Angus C., Roth L. (2016). Illegal drug use and possession: current policy and debate.
Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved from
https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/researchpapers/Pages/IllegaldruguseandpossessionCu
rrentpolicyanddebates.aspx
Hall, K. M., Brieger, D. G., De Silva, S. H., Pfister, B. F., Youlden, D. J., John-Leader, F., & Pit,
S. W. (2016). Errors and predictors of confidence in condom use amongst young
Australians attending a music festival. Journal of sexually transmitted diseases, 2016, 1-
9.
Hungerbuehler, I., Buecheli, A., & Schaub, M. (2011). Drug Checking: A prevention measure
for a heterogeneous group with high consumption frequency and polydrug use-evaluation
of zurich's drug checking services. Harm reduction journal, 8(1), 1-9.

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NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse). (2018). Drug facts: MDMA (Ecstasy/Molly). .
Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/mdma-ecstasymolly
Palamar, J. J., Salomone, A., Vincenti, M., & Cleland, C. M. (2016). Detection of “bath salts”
and other novel psychoactive substances in hair samples of ecstasy/MDMA/“Molly”
users. Drug and alcohol dependence, 161, 200-205.
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, 362-375.
Smith, J., & Noble, H. (2014). Bias in research. Evidence-based nursing, 17(4), 100-101.
Zohrabi, M. (2013). Mixed Method Research: Instruments, Validity, Reliability and Reporting
Findings. Theory & practice in language studies, 3(2), 1-8