Describe and Evaluate One Study on Heroin (Blattler Et Al 2002) and One Other Study (Stacy Et Al 1993).

Blattler et al 2002

  • Heroin maintenance programme – Switzerland

Aim

  • To see whether supplying heroin on a medical programme, combined with therapy, would reduce cocaine use among participants

Sample

  • 266 heroin addicts who also take cocaine
  • 168 male – 98 female
  • Original sample was 995 but some dropped out
  • Informed consent was given
  • Been on heroin for at least 2 years
  • Average heroin use = 10 years
  • Average cocaine use = 7 years
  • All had at least 2 attempts at being treated but were unsuccessful
  • Mean age = 30
  • 75% preferred injecting both heroin and cocaine
  • 33% drank alcohol
  • 30% were daily cocaine users
  • 23% smoked cannabis
  • 54% occasionally used cocaine
  • 16% non-cocaine users at intake

Procedure

  • Longitudinal study – 18 months
  • Self-report data – interview and questionnaire every 6 months
  • Asked about other drug users, legal sex trade, and criminality
  • Daily dose of heroin injected
  • HIV & Hepatitis tests
  • Offered counselling
  • Urine consistency checker – every 2 months – looking for traces of other drugs – checks reliability of data

Results

  • Cocaine use fell form 84% to 48%
  • Daily users of cocaine fell from 30% to 6%
  • Non-cocaine users increased from 16% to 52%
  • Illegal sources of income fell from 63% to 10%
  • Positive correlation – 0.66 at in-take, 0.82 at 18 months – participants were telling the truth

Evaluation – generalisability

  • Generalisable to other cultures – effects of drugs on the brain is the same – treatment should be the same
  • Large sample of 266 makes it easier to generalise
  • High percentage difference from start to end of study
  • Representative of target population
  • Can’t generalise to low drug users
  • Gender bias towards men
  • Switzerland is a culturally specific drugs scene

Ethics

  • Had informed consent
  • Approved by the National Ethics Committee
  • Had right to withdraw – some dropped out original sample
  • Study’s aim was in best interests of participants
  • Competent
  • Very costly
  • Some may believe giving drugs is immoral

Reliability

  • Reliable – triangulation – interview, questionnaire, urine sample
  • Consistency checker increases reliability
  • Reliability improved – positive correlation

Validity

  • Large sample and reliable controls make it valid
  • Results expected to go down – program to help them
  • May have lied in questionnaires/interviews
  • Some may have joined for free heroin with no intention of reducing cocaine use
  • 48% were still taking cocaine at the end – not entirely successful
  • Difficult to show and cause-effect relationships

Stacy et al 1993

Aim

  • To investigate long term predictors of alcohol use and drinking related problems
  • Look at the way drinking related problems link to personality factors including sensation seeking and cognitive motivation
  • Investigate whether particular negative outcomes of drinking were related to particular reasons for drinking

Sample

  • 64% white
  • 71% female
  • Mean age at start = 17.95 years
  • Mean age at follow up = 26.95 years
  • 11 junior high schools in LA – lower socioeconomic areas

Procedure

  • Longitudinal study
  • Participants being followed up as part of a wider investigation in to drug use
  • Drop-out rate was very small and didn’t relate to drug use
  • Self-report data – confidential questionnaires to provide measures of sensation seeking, cognitive motivation, and alcohol use at start and follow up

Sensation seeking

  • Personality trait assumed to be at least partly genetic
  • Linked to high risk behaviours
  • 4 items rated on a likert scale – 1 (never) – 5 (always)
  • Experience seeking
  • Thrill and adventure seeking
  • Disinhibition
  • Boredom susceptibility

Cognitive motivation

  • Reasons for someone’s behaviour
  • Why they choose to drink alcohol based on their perceived consequences
  • 4 scales of 3,4,5 items each
  • Reduction of negative effect
  • Enhancement of positive effect
  • Social cohesion
  • Addiction

Alcohol use

  • At follow up, participants were asked 29 questions on problem-drinking consequences – identified personal, physical, social, and work related negative consequences of drinking – rated on a 3 point scale
  • Asked about driving whilst intoxicated – measured frequency of response with arrest and conviction record

Results

  • Cognitive motivation and alcohol use in adolescents both predicted problem-drinking consequences in adulthood
  • Alcohol use predicted driving whilst intoxicated – especially beer and wine drinkers
  • Cognitive factor of positive effect in adolescence also predicted driving whilst intoxicated
  • Work related problems were predicted by thrill and adventure seeking and by social cohesion
  • Link between adolescent personality and adult cognitive motivation
  • Adolescents with higher sensation seeking scores grew to be adults with a greater cognitive motivation towards alcohol use

Evaluation

  • Longitudinal study – no individual differences
  • People may drop out – affects validity – study states few dropped out

Generalisability

  • Sample representative of target population – lower socioeconomic groups
  • Ethnocentric – only used in LA – may give different results to other areas

Reliability

  • Good reliability – standardised procedure
  • Could be replicated in other areas

Validity

  • May be other social reasons e.g. social learning theory, that may also affect alcohol use
  • Self-report data – may have given socially desirable answers – demand characteristics
  • Confidential questionnaires – less likely to lie
  • Likert scale limits responses
  • Large sample helps it to be more representative and valid

Application to real life

  • Can educate about behavioural types and alcohol related problems later in life

Ethics

  • Informed consent
  • Right to withdraw – some people dropped out
  • Competence
  • Confidential data