Measuring risk and health outcomes among women who use drugs

In Australia in 2019, an estimated 11% of women aged 14 years or older reported illicit drug use in the past year. Evidence of a shrinking gender gap in substance use has been emerging from many parts of the world. Women who use drugs are faced with a range of sex and gender-specific health risks and barriers to healthcare access. However, the experiences, concerns and needs of women who use drugs remain poorly understood. There is a known unconscious gender bias in research, from study design through to extrapolation of data to inform policy and practice. There has been a tendency in research on substance use disorders to focus on males and the male-oriented nature of drug and alcohol services. It is critical for responding to health challenges to have robust epidemiological evidence, including self-reported data. However, quality assurance checks for instruments to collect data among men and women are lacking.

This study aims to conduct a review of bio-behavioural data collected in longitudinal cohort studies of people who use drugs, with the aim of informing a revision to future data collection. Topics can include: 

• quality assurance of data collected among women who use drugs participating in longitudinal cohort studies
• standardised data collection scales focussed on women’s health and wellbeing needs
• critical indicators and outcomes reported in relevant strategies/policies aimed at improving women’s health and health of women who inject drugs
• standardised data collection tools and indicators in relevant strategies/policies to identify gaps in data collection including (a) the validation scales among women who use drugs and (b) sustainable and systematic data collection of outcomes and indicators among women who use drugs
• women’s experience in research studies when providing data on sensitive topics.

The study will use the Burnet SuperMIX, VMAX, IDRS and EDRS studies, longitudinal cohort and serial cross-sectional studies of people who use drugs. Opportunities exist for both qualitative and quantitative research, including:

• conducting in-depth interviews with study participants to better understand their experiences as someone who injects drugs and engages in research
• analysis of longitudinal survey data - to characterise the existing data and assess its suitability to understand behavioural risk and health outcomes among women.