Avoiding Counterproductive Results: An Experimental Pretest of a Harm Reduction Intervention on Attitude Toward Party Drugs Among Users and Nonusers

Abstract

In two experimental studies, the authors tested written health education materials on the personal acceptance of party drug use. Following a harm reduction strategy, the materials provided information on minimizing potential hazards associated with drug use. Among users and nonusers, potential aversive effects of these materials were examined on measures of attitude, intention, and outcome expectancy toward party drug use. Participants were recruited in the city center of Maastricht, The Netherlands, in nightlife settings that were popular among young people. In the first experiment, a leaflet on ecstasy use was evaluated among ecstasy users and nonusers. Results showed neither health promoting effects, nor counterproductive results on the outcome measures. In the second experiment, the effects of two different formats (leaflet vs. infocard) about two different kinds of party drugs (ecstasy vs. GHB) were compared within a nonusing population. Again, results showed no positive changes on the outcome measures toward ecstasy use as a result of exposure to the ecstasy materials. However, exposure to the GHB materials resulted into a more negative attitude toward GHB use (leaflet and infocard) and lower estimates of the likelihood of positive outcomes of use (infocard). The study's limitations and implications are discussed, including the need for experimental pretesting.

Keywords:

• Health education practice
• experimental pretesting
• evidence-based health education

Notes

Notes

1. A pilot test was performed to measure the time it would take participants to read the text. This was in average 15 to 20 minutes. Consequently, we decided give each participant the opportunity to read the text in 20 minutes. This way, we control for the time spent in reading.

2. Participants in the control condition received a neutral text about going out in which drug-related words or themes were avoided, and answered questions that measured the personal acceptance of both ecstasy and GHB use.

3. We planned to evaluate the materials also among users, but were not able to recruit sufficient users of ecstasy (n = 44) and particularly GHB (n = 7) to do reliable statistical tests on both users and nonusers. Therefore we decided to remove all participants with experience with drug use from the data analyses.