Prevalence, Motives & Harms of New Psychoactive Substances in Scotland
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding the Use, motives and harms of ‘legal highs’, or New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) in Scotland
IRAS ID
188332
Contact name
Katy MacLeod
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Scottish Drugs Forum
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 31 days
Research summary
In recent years, there has been an increase in the use of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), also known as ‘legal highs’, in Scotland, particularly among some sections of the population. This study aims to understand how many people are using NPS, why they choose to use them and what harms they have experienced as a result. This survey will be estimating prevalence amongst sub populations through analysis of existing data sets in combination with a specialised survey. This survey will quantify prevalence among target populations together with motivations for use and experienced harms. The categories for the survey will be generated in analysis of in-depth qualitative data generated through one-to-one interviews with NPS users and focus groups with staff working with NPS users. Given that NPS use is higher among some members of the population than the general population, the study will focus on those populations most at risk of NPS use and related harms. These comprise: at risk young people; users in contact with or identified by mental health services; homeless adults; new/existing injecting drug users; and men who have sex with men.
The study will last nine months, and participants will contribute to either an interview about their use of NPS, a focus group on local use patterns and harms of NPS use, or a survey on their use of NPS. The study will be conducted across Scotland, and recruitment will take place through specialist voluntary sector and NHS care providers. All participants in the interview stage of the study will be in contact with services and details of service provision will be provided on the survey. With the exception of the young people branch, all interview participants will be aged 18 years or older. For stage 2 research, all survey participants will be aged 16 years or older.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 4
REC reference
15/WS/0210
Date of REC Opinion
2 Nov 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion