HLSC122 - Semester 1, 2019: Critical Appraisal of Drug Testing Report

This report provides a critical appraisal of a research paper by Day et al. (2018) investigating illicit drug use, knowledge, and practices among music festival attendees, focusing on the implications of drug testing. The study, conducted at an Australian music festival, employed a quantitative survey to gather data from participants aged 18-30. The report evaluates the paper's authorship, research questions, design, methods, results, and limitations, highlighting the quantitative methodology and the lack of clearly defined research questions. The application of the research to a case scenario involving a young woman named Emily is examined, considering the potential impact of drug testing on her behavior and the concerns of her mother. The report discusses the enablers and barriers to applying the research findings to practice, emphasizing the complex relationship between drug testing, health promotion, and policy implications, and concludes that further research is necessary to understand the nuanced effects of drug testing strategies.

Title
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HLSC122Semester1, 2019
Assessment 3: Critical appraisal of evidence
Word count: 1250

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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 aim of this paper is to critically understand the issue of drug testing and their impact
on the young people in developing the habit of taking drugs. This chosen article discusses the
impact of drug testing by conducting a quantitative survey based on one of the Australian music
festival. As it has been observed from the national Drug strategy Household survey that there
are 8.5 million young people below the age of 14 has been under the impact of illicit drug use.
However what is astonishing here is that people belonging to the age group of 20 to 29 are
susceptible to this drug use. Hence the rationale of this study is to look into the issue of drug
use situated in Australian music festivals in order to understand the nuances of the issue. The aim
of this paper is to critical appraise the study conducted and understand the evidence based
approach to be undertaken in the given case scenario.
Part A: Critical appraisal
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Authorship
This article has been published in the Harm Reduction Journal in 2018 by Niamh Day et al. The
aim of this article is to ponder on the understanding the impact of harm reduction strategy within
the context of illicit drug use.
Research question
Irrespective of forming a strong foundation of research, this paper does not specify the research
question. However it can be derived from the study that the research is aimed at understanding
the changing attitudes and behavior of the drug checking patron at the music festivals based on
Australia. This paper also raises questions on the issue of the ethical aspects of drug testing in
music festivals. However what is lacking in this body of research is the fact is that there is
coherent formation of the research questions in the research analysis.
Research designs
This particular research has been completed undertaking the quantitative research design which
focuses on the analysis of the data collected mainly through the survey method. The aim of
conducting the quantitative research method here is that it helps to evaluate the data within the
structured design (Walliman, 2017). It also helps the study to be understood from the point of
view of a larger sample size. In addition to this study has been undertaken the quantitative design
due to the fact that this study ensures high reliability on the result derived. However one of the
issues of the quantitative research is that it is conducted after the due consideration of the
research questions, in this paper of analysis, the authors have not specified any clearly formed
research questions.
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Research methods
The aim of this paper has been to understand the ethical considerations and impact of the drug
testing strategy on the youths of Australia. Hence the method of data collection has been survey
method which is based on the sample size is larger. It is also important to note that the
quantitative data analysis is based on the questionnaire formed which is mostly open-ended in
nature. It is also important to note that the data collection is based on the survey of two major
music festivals of Australia. The sample size of the research is target group between the ages of
18-30 years who are subjected to higher drug use in these musical festivals. The rationale behind
the survey method of data collection is due to the fact that it helps it keep the identity of the
participants anonymous and it is also important to derive large number of data on the given study
(Walliman, 2017).
Limitations of the study
This article has failed to understand the fact that the chosen sample size is not representative of
the opinion of the general population. Hence one of the limitations of the study is that opinion
would be biased in nature since it the chosen sample size is limited in nature (Watson, 2015).
Moreover the aspects of equal representation of the female respondents are limited in nature
which is another reason for the limited data derived (Bulsara et al., 2015). It is also important to
note the fact that there are other limitations of the study related to the nature of the data analysis
and the final results are derived from the self-report. It might lead to the problem of inaccurate
reporting of the issue that is derived from the data. Hence it is not to deny that there are numbers
of sampling biased which are responsible for the inaccurate results acquired.
PART B – Application of evidence to practice
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It has been observed that the case scenario is based on one of the female named, Emily who is
going to attend one of the music festivals in Melbourne. It has been observed by her mother that
she has higher risks of getting impacted by the process of drug testing issue since she believed
that she will be influenced to take drug in her later years. This concern is genuine form her part
is genuine it has been observed that there are higher chances of getting influenced by drugs.
According to the findings of the study, it can be argued that drug testing as one of the way of
promoting health promotion in the context of Australia has been one of the debated issues both in
the academic discourse as well as in clinical approach towards the issue (Day et al., 2018). In
consideration of the findings of the study, it can be mentioned that Emily’s mother concern has
number of risk factors since it has been observed previously that drug testing actually leads to the
process of higher drug addiction. It is to be noted that the policies poor irrespective of intentions
being bad, this is one of the reasons for the higher drug addiction among the younger generation.
Moreover in case of Emily, it is to be observed that percentage of being impacted by drug abuse
is higher since it has been noticed that over 73% of the total number of participants in the drug
testing methods have been influenced to take drugs in a regular basis (Day et al., 2018).
Moreover it is interesting to note that 32% of the young people believed that if they are given the
chance to opt for drug testing, they are likely to take that (Day et al., 2018). Hence it is not to
deny the fact that there are higher chances of Emily being influenced in taking drugs and develop
the same habit. It is important to discuss at this juncture that the issue of drug addiction is likely
to be increased to a great extent unless there are certain changes in the policy mechanism on the
same.
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Conclusion
This paper highlighted the issue of drug reduction strategy in the context of Australian Music
festivals in order to understand the chances of falling victim to drug abuse. It is also important to
understand that the authors have demonstrated with enough statistical data that there are higher
chances of getting influenced by the processor of drug testing. It has also been argued by the
author that number of people at these music festivals is susceptible to drug use as a result of the
drug testing. The findings of the research study mentions that there such chances are higher for
the young people who attend the music festival hence the concern for Emily is genuine. It can be
concluded form the above discussion that the issue of drug testing is one of the debated issues in
the context of health promotion which requires further understanding of the issue. There is also
the need to understand the policy structures in order to improve the policy making for the
purpose of dealing with drug testing.
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References
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.
Walliman, N. (2017). Research methods: The basics. Routledge.
Bulsara, C. (2015). Using a mixed methods approach to enhance and validate your
research. Brightwater Group Research Centre, 1-82.
Watson, R. (2015). Quantitative research. Nursing Standard (2014+), 29(31), 44.
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