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    Lives of Substance: a mixed-method evaluation of a public information website on addiction experiences

    257929.pdf (690.3Kb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Treloar, C.
    Pienaar, Kiran
    Dilkes-Frayne, E.
    Fraser, Suzanne
    Date
    2017
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Treloar, C. and Pienaar, K. and Dilkes-Frayne, E. and Fraser, S. 2017. Lives of Substance: a mixed-method evaluation of a public information website on addiction experiences. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy. 26 (2): pp. 140-147.
    Source Title
    Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy
    DOI
    10.1080/09687637.2017.1397602
    ISSN
    0968-7637
    School
    National Drug Research Institute (NDRI)
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/59251
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    The Lives of Substance (LoS) website presents personal experiences of drug use and ‘addiction’ in people’s own words as part of a larger project of complicating public discourses of addiction, countering stigmatising misconceptions and acting as an intervention in the social production of addiction. This article presents the findings of a mixed-method evaluation of the website, and comments on some of the methodological and practical challenges of evaluating health-related online information resources. Method: Three data sources were used to examine such as the reach of the website (website analytics); experiences of the website audience (responses to an evaluation survey on the website); and other indicators of use and impact (including social media referrals and organisational links). Results: In the 10-week evaluation period, 3970 unique users visited the website. Comments provided via the online survey endorsed the website as a means of challenging stereotypes and as presenting drug use as only a ‘part of a person’s whole life’. Twenty-four organisations had linked to the website and 987 social media referrals were recorded. Conclusion: These data indicate that the LoS website is having some success as a resource for countering addiction-related stigma and offering more holistic and inclusive social understandings of addiction.

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