A Benefit-Cost Analysis of BackTrack, a Multi-Component, Community-Based Intervention for High-Risk Young People in a Rural Australian Setting.

BackTrack is a multi-component, community-based program designed to build capacity amongst high-risk young people. The aim of this study was to conduct a benefit-cost analysis of BackTrack, which was implemented in Armidale, a rural town in New South Wales, Australia. Costs and benefits were identified, measured and valued in 2016 Australian dollars.

Exploring Community-Based Options for Reducing Youth Crime.

BackTrack is a multi-component, community-based intervention designed to build capacity amongst 14-17-year-old high risk young people. The aim of the current study seeks to explore community value and preferences for reducing youth crime and improving community safety using BackTrack in a rural setting in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. The study design used discrete choice experiments (DCEs), designed in accordance with the 10-item checklist outlined by the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research.

Reducing drug and alcohol use and improving well-being for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians using the Community Reinforcement Approach: A feasibility and acceptability study.

There is a lack of evidence of effective and appropriate drug and alcohol treatment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This paper contributes to addressing the evidence gap by examining the feasibility and acceptability and conducting a pre/post-evaluation of the Aboriginal-adapted Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) delivered in New South Wales, Australia. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal clients (n = 55) received tailored CRA delivery between March and November 2013.

Benefit Cost Analysis of Three Skin Cancer Public Education Mass-Media Campaigns Implemented in New South Wales, Australia.

Public education mass media campaigns are an important intervention for influencing behaviour modifications. However, evidence on the effectiveness of such campaigns to encourage the population to reduce sun exposure is limited. This study investigates the benefits and costs of three skin cancer campaigns implemented in New South Wales from 2006-2013.

Randomized Controlled Trial of Mailed Personalized Feedback for Risky Drinkers in the Emergency Department: The Impact on Alcohol Consumption, Alcohol-Related Injuries, and Repeat Emergency Department Presentations.

Background: Due to the difficulty encountered in disseminating resource-intensive emergency department (ED)-based brief alcohol interventions into real-world settings, this study evaluated the effect of a mailed personalized feedback intervention for problem drinking ED patients. At 6-week follow-up, this intervention was associated with a statistically significant reduction in alcohol consumption among patients with alcohol-involved ED presentations. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of this intervention over time.

Identifying Aboriginal-specific AUDIT-C and AUDIT-3 cutoff scores for at-risk, high-risk, and likely dependent drinkers using measures of agreement with the 10-item Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test.

Background: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is a 10-item alcohol screener that has been recommended for use in Aboriginal primary health care settings. The time it takes respondents to complete AUDIT, however, has proven to be a barrier to its routine delivery. Two shorter versions, AUDIT-C and AUDIT-3, have been used as screening instruments in primary health care.

Tailoring a family-based alcohol intervention for Aboriginal Australians, and the experiences and perceptions of health care providers trained in its delivery.

Background: Aboriginal Australians experience a disproportionately high burden of alcohol-related harm compared to the general Australian population. Alcohol treatment approaches that simultaneously target individuals and families offer considerable potential to reduce these harms if they can be successfully tailored for routine delivery to Aboriginal Australians. The Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) and Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) are two related interventions that are consistent with Aboriginal Australians' notions of health and wellbeing.

Prevalence and characteristics of patients with risky alcohol consumption presenting to emergency departments in rural Australia.

Objective: This study measures the prevalence of problematic alcohol consumption in patients of EDs in rural areas of Australia, relative to the general population in the same rural communities. It also identifies the characteristics associated with risky drinking in rural ED patients.

Methods: Surveys containing the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and questions corresponding to the 2001 Australian Alcohol Guidelines were completed by 1056 patients presenting to five EDs in rural areas of New South Wales, and 756 residents of the same five communities.

Cost per incident of alcohol-related crime in New South Wales.

Introduction And Aims: The purpose of this paper is to provide a per incident of crime cost measure for New South Wales that is suitable for the use within cost-effectiveness studies of interventions aimed at reducing the burden of alcohol. This paper seeks to quantify the individual cost of an assault, property damage, sexual offence and disorderly conduct in New South Wales.

Design And Methods: Costs regarding the criminal act, police involvement, prosecution in criminal courts and incarceration are estimated and then using a four-stage probability analysis, the expected cost per incident is calculated.

A systematic review of family-based interventions targeting alcohol misuse and their potential to reduce alcohol-related harm in indigenous communities.

Objective: Alcohol misuse is a major risk factor for harm in indigenous communities. The indigenous family unit is often the setting for, and is most adversely affected by, alcohol-related harm. Therefore, family-based alcohol interventions offer great potential to reduce alcohol-related harm in indigenous communities.

Randomized controlled trial of mailed personalized feedback for problem drinkers in the emergency department: the short-term impact.

Background: Evidence exists for the efficacy of emergency department (ED)-based brief alcohol interventions, but attempts to incorporate face-to-face interventions into routine ED practice have been hampered by time, financial, and attitudinal constraints. Mailed personalized feedback, which is likely to be more feasible, has been associated with reduced alcohol consumption in other settings, but its cost-effectiveness in the ED has not been examined.

Methods: The intervention was evaluated with a randomized controlled trial of patients presenting to 5 rural EDs in New South Wales, Australia.

A systematic and methodological review of interventions for young people experiencing alcohol-related harm.

Aims: This review identified published studies evaluating interventions delivered outside educational settings, designed for young people with existing alcohol use problems, or who participate in behaviour that places them at high risk of alcohol-related harm, critiqued their methodology and identified opportunities for new interventions.

Methods: A systematic search of the peer-reviewed literature interrogated 10 electronic databases using specific search strings, limited to 2005-09. No additional studies were found by a librarian searching other collections and clearing-houses, or by hand-searching review paper reference lists.

Measuring costs of alcohol harm to others: a review of the literature.

Introduction: People other than the drinker experience harmful consequences from alcohol misuse, accounting for part of the economic burden to society. Little has been done on costing harm to others.

Method: A literature review was undertaken of various databases, government publications, dissertations, conference papers and reference materials.

Cost-effectiveness of follow-up contact for a postal survey: a randomised controlled trial.

Objective: This study examines the effectiveness and costs of follow-up phone calls in improving response rates to a community survey.

Methods: Non-responders to a postal survey were randomly allocated to receive a phone call or no phone call. The resources used for the development and implementation of the survey were documented.

Epidemiology of alcohol-related burden of disease among Indigenous Australians.

Objective: To compare the burden of alcohol-related harm and underlying factors of this harm, by age and sex, for Indigenous and general population Australians.

Methods: Population attributable fractions are used to estimate the disability adjusted life years (DALYs) for alcohol-related disease and injury. The DALYs were converted to rates per 1,000 by age and sex for the Indigenous and general populations.

Comparing the cost of alcohol-related traffic crashes in rural and urban environments.

Context: Existing studies have identified that, although to a lesser extent than individual factors such as males and young people, rural (compared to urban) communities represent a disproportionately high-risk of alcohol-related traffic crashes (ARTCs). To date, however, few studies have attempted to apply different costs to alcohol crashes of different severity, to provide more precise, and practically useful, data on which to base public health policy and intervention decisions.

Objective: The aim of this study is to quantify the per capita prevalence and differential costs of alcohol crashes of different levels of severity to determine the extent to which urban and rural geographical areas may differ in the costs attributable to ARTCs.

Alcohol policy reform in Australia: what can we learn from the evidence?

Alcohol consumption is a major risk factor contributing to the burden of disease in Australia. The National Preventative Health Taskforce recommends the long-term goal of reshaping Australia's drinking culture to produce healthier and safer outcomes. A study of the cost-effectiveness of interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm in Australia suggests that policymakers could achieve over 10 times the health gain if they reallocated the current level of investment.

Cost-effectiveness of volumetric alcohol taxation in Australia.

Objective: To estimate the potential health benefits and cost savings of an alcohol tax rate that applies equally to all alcoholic beverages based on their alcohol content (volumetric tax) and to compare the cost savings with the cost of implementation.

Design And Setting: Mathematical modelling of three scenarios of volumetric alcohol taxation for the population of Australia: (i) no change in deadweight loss, (ii) no change in tax revenue, and (iii) all alcoholic beverages taxed at the same rate as spirits.

Main Outcome Measures: Estimated change in alcohol consumption, tax revenue and health benefit.

The relationship between risky alcohol consumption, crime and traffic accidents in Australian rural communities.

Aim: To estimate the alcohol-attributable crime and traffic accidents for rural communities in Australia, controlling for potential bias.

Method: For 20 rural communities in New South Wales, Australia, crime and traffic accident data was obtained from police records along with risky alcohol use estimated from a postal questionnaire. The relationship between community levels of risky drinking and crime and traffic accidents that occur in alcohol-related times is analysed controlling for the underlying level of crime by using the rate of incidents that occur in non-alcohol-related times.

Alcohol industry and government revenue derived from underage drinking by Australian adolescents 2005.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to estimate the revenue gained from consumption of alcohol by adolescents for each beverage type for the year 2005.

Design: Secondary analysis of self-reported alcohol use in the 2005 Australian Secondary School Surveys Alcohol and Drug Use.

Setting: Australia.

The consumption of alcohol by Australian adolescents: a comparison of revenue and expenditure.

Aims: To estimate (i) Australian government taxation revenue collected from the consumption of alcohol by adolescents and (ii) the amount spent by the government on interventions aimed at educating adolescents about the potential dangers of alcohol use.

Design: Secondary data analysis.

Setting: Australia.

General practitioners' role in preventive medicine: scenario analysis using alcohol as a case study.

The purpose of this analysis is threefold: first, to extract from the literature, current levels of GP detection of at-risk drinking by their patients, rates at which general practitioners (GPs) offer an intervention; and the effectiveness of these interventions; secondly, to develop a model based on this literature to be used in conjunction with scenario analysis; and thirdly, to consider the cost implications of current efforts and various scenarios. This study deals specifically with Australian general practice. A two-step procedure is used in the scenario analysis, which involves identifying opportunities for detection, intervention, effectiveness and assigning probabilities to outcomes.