Prevalence of tattooing and body piercing in the Australian community.

Tattooing and body piercing are now worldwide fashion crazes. The health risks associated with these procedures are as yet unclear. This article examines the prevalence of body decoration and the associated health risks within the Australian population using a random sample survey of individuals aged 14 years and over, collected between June and September 1998 (n = 10,030). The results show that one in 10 people have had a tattoo at some point in their lives and 8 per cent some form of body piercing, excluding ear piercing. Men are more likely than women to report tattooing, while females are more likely to report body and ear piercing. Some 10 per cent of respondents report drinking alcohol or using other drugs when the procedures were undertaken. The prevalence of tattooing and body piercing is considerably higher among injecting drug users. Although the rates of transmission of bloodborne disease due to body decoration are believed to be low, the strong association with youth and with injecting drug use suggests considerable potential for transmission.

Patterns of recent drug use among a sample of Australian detainees.

AIMS: To ascertain the prevalence of recent drug use among police detainees. Data. Data were gathered over a 1-year period in 1999 from detainees in four Australian police stations. Measures analysed include: (a) urinalysis results for cannabis, amphetamines, benzodiazepines, cocaine and opiates; (b) socio-economic and demographic backgrounds of detainees; and (c) arrest history and imprisonment. SETTING: Bankstown and Parramatta police stations, Sydney, East Perth Lockup, Perth and Southport Watchhouse, Southport, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: 1408 adult males detained by police were approached. Eighty-four per cent agreed to complete an interview and 70% provided a urine specimen. FINDINGS: Cannabis was most likely to be detected, followed by opiates, benzodiazepines, and then amphetamines. Very little cocaine was detected. Around three-quarters tested positive to at least one drug and around one-third tested positive to multiple drug use. Significant predictors for recent drug use were age, reported involvement in illegal activities and prior arrest and imprisonment. Those who tested positive to opiates were more likely to be charged with property offences while those who tested positive to cannabis were more likely to be charged with a drug offence. CONCLUSIONS: To monitor effectively patterns of drug use among at-risk populations such as detainees data collections grounded at the local level are necessary.

Public knowledge about passive smoking: results from a survey in the Australian Capital Territory.

Spreading public knowledge about the health consequences of passive smoking is now a major health priority. Using data from a random sample of Australian Capital Territory residents conducted in November-December 1991, this paper examines the level of general and specific knowledge that individuals possess about passive smoking. While 87% of the sample gave an accurate definition of passive smoking, the 13% who did not were distinguished by lack of educational qualifications and by employment outside the government sector. A similar proportion did not see any illnesses being associated with passive smoking, and this group was significantly more likely to consist of current smokers. Employment status emerged as a factor influencing specific knowledge of passive smoking, highlighting the importance of continued moves to restrict smoking within the workplace.

Can resident-centred inspection of nursing homes work with very sick residents?

This paper seeks to address the issue of whether a resident-centred inspection process can be effective in a nursing home environment dominated by residents who require high levels of care. Two fundamental criticisms of the current Australian monitoring process are its reliance on standards that are subjective resident-centred standards and its reliance on the views of residents concerning the quality of care provided in the home. These criticisms are becoming all the more important as survival rates for the aged increase and the average level of disability of nursing home residents continues to worsen. Our data suggest that the resident-centred process, despite some difficulties, is both reliable and practical, regardless of the care needs of residents in the home. Data collected from inspection teams show that inspectors use a variety of sources to validate information, with residents being one component. These sources vary little in importance between homes with different levels of care needs or behavioural problems. Perhaps of more importance is the finding that a home's overall performance across 31 resident-centred standards is not affected by either the home's average level of total care needs or the number of residents with severe behavioural problems. There are some significant effects (in both directions) of resident disability on compliance with particular standards. Most notable is the finding that the standard requiring appropriate use of restraint is less likely to be met when there are large numbers of residents with high levels of disability or behavioural problems.

Progress in assessing the quality of Australian nursing home care.

This paper critically examines the clarity, practicality, desirability and validity of the 31 outcome standards that the Commonwealth Government introduced to assess quality of care in Australian nursing homes. Key features of the Australian system in an international context are its focus on outcomes, the limited number of standards used, and the comparatively subjective nature of some standards. Directors of nursing from 410 nursing homes in the Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide metropolitan areas were interviewed as part of the Nursing Home Regulation in Action Project. The overwhelming majority reported the standards as clear and desirable. In the minority of cases where problems were raised, practicability was the basis for concern. A factor analysis of the ratings given by standards monitoring teams to these 410 homes failed to demonstrate redundancy across standards or grouping of standards by objectives. Nevertheless, the standards were sufficiently highly interrelated to justify summing to produce an overall compliance score. This study shows that the 31 standards hold up well under scrutiny, both from the perspectives of key actors in the monitoring process, and from a psychometric point of view.

Correcting for the underreporting of drug use in opinion surveys.

Survey data is one of the major mechanisms for measuring patterns of drug use across populations. But because drug use can be both a legal and an illegal activity, the accuracy of self-reported measures of use has been a continual problem. The sealed booklet questionnaire overcomes these problems by guaranteeing the respondent some degree of anonymity. This paper reports results from a modified booklet method used in a drug use survey with a national population sample. The method produces better estimated than direct questions, yet guarantees the respondent anonymity. In addition, the analysis shows that underreporting for different drugs is behaviorally motivated rather than drug-specific. The results suggest that adults are more concerned about potential use, while adolescents are more concerned about past use.

Whatever happened to marijuana? Patterns of marijuana use in Australia, 1985-1988.

Although marijuana remains the most widely used illicit drug in the world, the rise of cocaine has eclipsed it as the main focus of scholarly research. It remains unclear, outside of the United States, to what extent marijuana use has declined in the late 1980s, and whether the risk for particular age and sex groups has changed. In this paper, national population survey data collected in 1985 and 1988 are used to examine changing patterns of marijuana use in Australia, with particular reference to adolescents. The results show that while adult experience of marijuana has changed little, female adolescent experience increased significantly during the period, while male adolescent experience declined. There is a strong association between marijuana use and other drug use, notably illicit drug. Tobacco use remains an important association with marijuana among adolescents.

Alcohol consumption across the lifecycle in Australia, 1985-1988.

National studies show an overall decline in alcohol consumption across a range of developed countries. Using national population survey data collected in 1985 and 1988 in Australia indicate a decline in alcohol consumption with a differential impact upon particular age and sex groups. In particular, the results support Ledermann's prediction that as consumption declines, heavy drinkers will decline disproportionately. This trend is particularly notable among women. While overall levels of alcohol consumption have remained stable among the young, the pattern for women is for a uniform decrease in consumption, for men, a decrease in the older age groups. Various possible explanations for these trends are discussed.

Knowledge and information about drugs in Australia.

This article uses a national population survey conducted in 1988 to examine drug information needs within the Australian population. The analysis concentrates on three types of informational needs--knowledge and contact with drug services, the nature of the drug information sought, and the sources of drug information. The results show that almost half of the respondents in the survey considered that they had an adequate amount of information about drugs and there were generally high levels of factual knowledge about the drug and alcohol services available in the community. Knowledge of drug services was found to be unrelated to the need for information, although high levels of knowledge did correlate with a willingness to use a variety of medical, welfare, and social support services to obtain information. The data indicated that contact significantly correlated with both a desire for information and a willingness to consult a variety of services. Finally, users of all types of drugs reported higher levels of knowledge, with users of illicit drugs, in particular, expressing a greater desire for information about all types of drugs and an increased willingness to use a variety of welfare and social support agencies.