Extending drug ethno-epidemiology using agent-based modelling
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AIMS: To show how the inclusion of agent-based modelling improved the integration of ethno-epidemiological data in a study of psychostimulant use and related harms among young Australians. METHODS: Agent-based modelling, ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews and epidemiological surveys. SETTING: Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Club drug users in Melbourne, recreational drug users in Perth and street-based injecting drug users in Sydney. Participants were aged 18-30 years and reported monthly or more frequent psychostimulant use. FINDINGS: Agent-based modelling provided a specific focus for structured discussion about integrating ethnographic and epidemiological methods and data. The modelling process was underpinned by collective and incremental design principles, and produced 'SimAmph', a data-driven model of social and environmental agents and the relationships between them. Using SimAmph, we were able to test the probable impact of ecstasy pill-testing on the prevalence of harms--a potentially important tool for policy development. The study also navigated a range of challenges, including the need to manage epistemological differences, changes in the collective design process and modelling focus, the differences between injecting and non-injecting samples and concerns over the dissemination of modelling outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Agent-based modelling was used to integrate ethno-epidemiological data on psychostimulant use, and to test the probable impact of a specific intervention on the prevalence of drug-related harms. It also established a framework for collaboration between research disciplines that emphasizes the synthesis of diverse data types in order to generate new knowledge relevant to the reduction of drug-related harms.
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Moore et al. (2009) report an Australian youth study on psychostimulant use and health outcomes in which ethnography shaped some behavioral rules in an agent-based model, and epidemiological data checked the model's emergent descriptions.
“Moore et al. (2009), for example, describe a study of psychostimulant use and health outcomes among Australian youth in which ethnographic work informed some of the behavioral rules that were programmed into an agent-based model, and epidemiological data were used to validate the model’s emergent descriptions.”
From Syndemics: a theory in search of data or data in search of a theory? (2018) · cites this paper as Moore et al. (2009)
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- Authors
- Moore, D., Dray, A., Green, R., Hudson, S. L., Jenkinson, R., Siokou, C., Perez, P., Bammer, G., Maher, L., & Dietze, P.
- Affiliations
- Curtin University (AU)
- Australian National University (AU)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Monash University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Moore, David
- ORCID
- Venue
- Addiction
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2009-11-09
- Volume
- 104
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1991-1997
- ISSN
- 0965-2140 (ISSN-L)
- 1360-0443
- OpenAlex
- W2162605200
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 2.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Addiction (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Online (University of Wollongong) (submittedVersion)
- Agritrop (Cirad) (submittedVersion)
- eSpace (Curtin University) (submittedVersion)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Australian Government
- National Drug Research Institute
- Medical Research Council
- National Health and Medical Research Council (323212)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Social Sciences › Demography › Youth, Drugs, and Violence
- Keywords
- agent-based modeling, psychostimulant use, club drugs, drug-related harm, people who inject drugs, recreational drug users, adolescent substance use, interdisciplinary research integration, harm reduction policy, epistemological differences
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Central Nervous System Stimulants, Australia, Female, Hallucinogens, Humans, Male, Models, Psychological, N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine, Amphetamine-Related Disorders, Harm Reduction, Young Adult
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