Drug Use Measurement: Strengths, Limitations, and Recommendations for Improvement : Statement of Frederick Mulhauser, Assistant Director, Program Evaluation and Methodology Division, Before the Subcommittee on Legislation and National Security, Committee on Government Operations, House of RepresentativesThe Office, 1993 - 10 pages |
Expressions et termes fréquents
absenteeism Accuracy of Subject based on urinalysis booked arrestees central booking facilities cost data base drug control strategies drug prevalence rates Drug Use Estimates drug use findings Drug Use Forecasting drug use measurement drug use patterns drug use rates DUF publications DUF Studies Enhancing the NHSDA excluded hair analysis Hair testing hard-core Health and Human heroin and cocaine heroin users High School Senior high-risk target highlighted Hispanic homeless and transient HSSS investigators HSSS yearly rate Human Services illicit drug types interviews measurement of heroin methodologies national drug control national estimates NHSDA and HSSS nonwhite objective drug opiate use rate overall rate PREVALENCE ESTIMATES prevalence measurement rate of cocaine rate of marijuana recommended reliance on subject school dropouts School Nonparticipation Secretary of Health Studying High-Risk Groups subject self-reports substance abuse survey administrations target populations three studies U.S. General Accounting UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN validate self-reports weekly cocaine users yearly rate decreased
Fréquemment cités
Page 10 - Ethnographic street studies have been incorporated in high-risk group prevalence estimation efforts, as have nominative techniques and a wide range of traditional operations research procedures. These types of studies are still in their early stages of development with respect to drug use, requiring much more elaboration and specificity, but are certainly worthy of continued attention and funding. To undertake such work on high-risk groups in an orderly, scientific manner, we recommended that the...
Page 8 - ... approximately $150,000 (including subject payment incentives), a relatively small allocation compared to the $13 million cost of conducting just one round of NHSDA. — Develop or improve supplementary data sources to more appropriately determine heroin and cocaine prevalence patterns and trends. In 1991, NHSDA was expanded beyond just a household survey to include the sheltered homeless, civilians on military bases, and residents of college dormitories. These target populations, however, do...
Page 4 - ... two-front drug war": one with casual, recreational users; the other with more hard-core, frequent users. However, the 855,000 estimate was subsequently shown to be incorrect. Due to imputation problems, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) revised the 1991 user population estimate, first from 855,000 down to 654,000 and then to 625,000, implying that the frequency of weekly cocaine users in NHSDA had, in fact, not risen between 1990 and 1991. Obviously, greater quality control procedures...
Page 5 - NHSDA, objective confirmation of the accuracy of HSSS is needed. Exclusion of High School Dropouts By design, dropouts have not been included in the sampling frame of HSSS since the inception of the study in 1975. Since they are thought to have higher rates of drug use than students in school, this implies some underestimation of drug use rates among the age cohort of high school seniors. Correction factors introduced by project officials have not been universally accepted. In fiscal year 1992, NIDA...
Page 2 - DUF As already noted, each of these surveys reported a decline in the overall rate of marijuana use. Between 1979 and 1990, the NHSDA past year rate decreased from 18 to 10 percent, while the HSSS yearly rate decreased from 51 to 27 percent. During 1987-90, the DUF booked-arrestee marijuana rate declined from 36 to 19 percent, based on urinalysis test results. NHSDA and HSSS have demonstrated declines in the overall rate of cocaine use between 1985 and 1990. The NHSDA yearly rate decreased from б...
Page 5 - ... hard-core, frequent drug users are often not found in the household environment. The High School Senior Survey Five particular strengths are highlighted in our report) (1) HSSS is managed by a distinguished group of social scientists at the University of Michigan who have guided the project since its inception in 1975; (2) a sophisticated design is utilized to obtain between 15,000 and 19,000 participating seniors each year, drawn from between 120 and 140 public and private schools; (3) the refusal...
Page 4 - NHSDA, the number of individuals said to be using cocaine "once a week" or more was estimated at 662,000. In 1991, this estimate increased to 855,000, indicating a jump of almost 200,000 weekly cocaine users within a single year. This sharp increase has been taken as one indicator of the need to fight a "two-front drug war": one with casual, recreational users; the other with more hard-core, frequent users. However, the 855,000 estimate was subsequently shown to be incorrect. Due to imputation problems,...
Page 3 - Self-Reports NHSDA findings rely entirely on the honesty of subject selfreports. Recent studies (1985-91) provide mixed evidence regarding the accuracy of drug use self -reports. Some studies have confirmed the validity of the self-report method. Others found -particular groups providing inaccurate responses ( for example, arrestees, pregnant females, and discharged clients). Underreporting of the more socially disapproved drugs has also been noted. The accuracy of self-reported...
Page 6 - Drug use estimates for nonwhite seniors have traditionally not been reported on a yearly basis in HSSS press releases and publications. Nor have safeguard procedures been adopted to ensure the representativeness of minority groups in the HSSS survey sample. As a result, annual nonwhite drug use patterns among high school seniors over the years have remained unclear. Drug Use Forecasting Four strengths of DUF are highlighted in our report: (1) establishment of a much needed drug use data base at the...
Page 2 - In 1987, 46 percent of all those tested by urinalysis procedures were found to be positive. Three years later, the rate was still above 40 percent (43 percent). This points up the need to develop appropriate cocaine treatment strategies for specific target populations in our national drug control strategies . NHSDA has not been a useful tool for tracking heroin use, nor was it expected to be given that heroin users frequently do not live in typical household settings. Through 1990, the National Institute...