Overview of the Australian National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) Marian Shanahan and Amanda Roxburgh NDARC, University of New South Wales, Australia EMCDDA June 2012
Overview About the survey Drug and alcohol use in Australia By drug By age and gender Changes over time Addressing issues of response
National Drug Strategy Household Survey Aims to provide estimates of licit and illicit drug use patterns and trends provide data on drug related abuse and potential harm measure community awareness and knowledge of licit and illicit drugs measure community support for various drug-related policies
Key characteristics 2010 Survey (cont d) 1. Population survey person aged 12 + who has the next birthday residing in a private dwelling excludes those who live in non-private dwellings, are homeless, live in institutions or at military bases 2010 NSDHS Sample 26,648 (2007 23,356) Response rate 50.6% (2007 51.6%)
NDSHS survey sampling methodology 2. Methodology 2010 - All drop and collect CATI not utilised 2007 approx 3,500 (15%) were CATI respondents Note: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) analysed 2001 data for differences between CATI and drop and collect results comparable 3. Complex sampling method Randomly selected & 2 levels of stratification o Strata capital cities versus rest of state o Census collection districts Oversampling in smaller states and territories
Analyses adjusts for complex sampling Weightings which account for: distribution of the target population by age and sex oversampling non-response bias the probability of selection within the population Weighting allows the generalisation of the findings to general population Weights are calculated and provided by AIHW
Drug use: % of population aged 14+ reported consuming in past 12 months (NDSHS 2010)
Drug use: % of population aged 14+ reported consuming in past 12 months (NDSHS 2010)
Past year: any alcohol consumption - Males
Illicit Drugs - Key findings 2010 Survey 2004 2007 2010 Roxburgh, 2011, NDARC
Population data : Recent annual drug use Currently synthetic cannabinoids and other synthetics are not covered in our population surveys
Cannabis: General population use 1993 to 2010
Cannabis: % of the general population reporting past year use by age group (2010)
General population ecstasy use, 1988-2010
Ecstasy: % of the general population reporting past year use (2010)
Ecstasy: % of general population who reported using in last week or month (2007 & 2010)
General population methamphetamine use, 1993 to 2010
General population cocaine use, 1993 to 2010
Some key findings 2010 1. Rates of tobacco use are continuing to decline Higher among low SES and in rural areas 2. Alcohol use amongst youth appears to be declining but rates of risky drinking remains constant 3. in past 12 month cannabis use 9.1% (2007) to 10.3% True across all age groups 4. in past 12 month ecstasy use 3.5% (2007) to 3% Particularly among males and 14-19 year olds And in % reporting daily or weekly use 8.3 (2007) to 3.3%
Some key findings 2010 5. Methamphetamine Rates of recent use appear to be declining since 1998 6. Cocaine Rates of recent use increasing since 2004
Concerns over content and response rate On behalf of Australian Department of Health Australian Information Health and Welfare (AIHW) Convened 3 forums (policy makers, researchers, academics) To obtain advice on potential changes to content & survey methods Constraints: budget and legislation
Some recommendations All sections remain relevant but room for streamlining questions Additional policy questions suggested (NSP, ban on smoking in public spaces, NSP in prisons) Drop some demographic questions (i.e. language, country of origin) Additional questions on drug use/ harms/ behaviours Discussions on the feasibility and usefulness of an brief E-Survey Any changes would require further analysis and testing
Recommendations on methods Use of a pre-distribution letter to increase awareness Improve validation of addresses and notification strategies Provision of small financial incentive (not feasible) Maintain consistency Increase number choices for survey completion (CATI, Online, Paper) Include an option for booking a time for CATI (computer assisted telephone interview) Online would result in improved data quality, improve response rate Face-to-face follow-up Improve sample coverage for Indigenous population at-risk populations (14-17 non- school attendees, homeless, prisoners)
Thank- you Marian Shanahan M.shanahan@unsw.edu.au
Past year any alcohol consumption - Females 2010 NDSHS, AIHW; Roxburgh, Ritter et al, 2011