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    Changes in Australians' attitudes towards supervised injecting facilities

    Access Status
    Fulltext not available
    Embargo Lift Date
    2025-09-03
    Authors
    Lloyd, Z.
    Colledge-Frisby, Samantha
    Taylor, Nicholas
    Livingston, Michael
    Jauncey, M.
    Roxburgh, A.
    Date
    2024
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Lloyd, Z. and Colledge-Frisby, S. and Taylor, N. and Livingston, M. and Jauncey, M. and Roxburgh, A. 2024. Changes in Australians' attitudes towards supervised injecting facilities. Drug and Alcohol Review. 43 (7): pp. 1892-1904.
    Source Title
    Drug and Alcohol Review
    DOI
    10.1111/dar.13937
    ISSN
    0959-5236
    Faculty
    Faculty of Health Sciences
    School
    EnAble Institute
    Funding and Sponsorship
    http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT210100656
    http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173505
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96542
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Introduction: Supervised injecting facilities (SIF) have been shown to reduce negative outcomes experienced by people who inject drugs. They are often subject to intense public and media scrutiny. This article aimed to explore population attitudes to SIFs and how these changed over time in Australia. Methods: Data were drawn from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey, a national sample collecting data on illicit drug use and attitudes towards drug policy among Australians (2001–2019). Ordinal logistic regression assessed sociodemographic characteristics associated with different attitudes to SIFs and binary logistic regression assessed trends over time and by jurisdiction. Results: In 2019, 54% of respondents (95% CI 52.9, 55.1) supported SIFs, 27.5% (95% CI 26.6, 28.4) opposed and 18.4% (95% CI 17.7, 19.2) were ambivalent. Support for SIFs correlated with having a university degree (OR 1.75; 95% CI 1.58, 1.94), non-heterosexual identity (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.51, 2.17) and recent illicit drug use (OR = 1.74, 95% CI 1.55, 1.94). Male respondents or those living in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas had lower odds of supporting SIFs (OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.85, 1.00; OR 0.64–0.80, respectively). Between 2001 and 2019, support for SIFs increased modestly by 3.3%, those who ‘don't know’ by 7.4%, whereas opposition decreased by 11.7%. Between 2001 and 2019, support for SIFs increased in NSW and Queensland, whereas opposition decreased in all jurisdictions. Discussion and Conclusions: Opposition to SIFs declined over the past 20 years, but a substantial proportion of respondents are ambivalent or ‘don't know enough to say’. Plain language information about SIFs and their potential benefits, targeted to those who are ambivalent/’don't know’ may further increase public support.

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