Publications by authors named "Nicky Dirkx"
Article Synopsis
- People in prison face higher risks of negative mental health outcomes and share common factors linked to delinquency and drug use, highlighting the need for better understanding of their health and drug use patterns in Europe.
- A multicenter mixed-method study will be conducted across five European countries (Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, and Luxembourg), using surveys and interviews to gather data from current and recently released prisoners about their drug use and health issues.
- The research aims to assess drug use and care services available in prisons, focusing on the prison environment's impact on health and social reintegration, providing insights applicable to different prison contexts across Europe.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigated drug use among attendees of electronic dance music (EDM) festivals in Belgium and Sweden, highlighting significant underreporting by participants.
- Results showed that self-reported and tested drug use was much higher in Belgium (56.8% self-reported vs. 37.2% tested) compared to Sweden (4.3% self-reported vs. 12.5% tested).
- The findings suggest that cultural differences influence both actual drug use and the willingness to disclose it, calling for careful consideration of these factors in drug use research methodologies.
Substance Use and Attendance Motives of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) Event Attendees: A Survey Study.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
January 2023
EDM event attendees are a high-risk population for substance use and associated adverse effects. The aim of this study was to examine substance use at EDM events, focusing on associations between attendance motives and substance use. Sociodemographic characteristics, event specifics, past-year use, and attendance motives were assessed through an online survey.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Monitoring emerging trends in the increasingly dynamic European drug market is vital; however, information on change at the individual level is scarce. In the current study, we investigated changes in drug use over 12 months in European nightlife attendees.
Method: In this longitudinal online survey, changes in substances used, use frequency in continued users, and relative initiation of use at follow-up were assessed for 20 different substances.
Background: Online sampling is widely used to recruit hard to reach samples such as drug users at nightlife events. We conducted the first study comparing differences in demographics, drug use and nightlife behaviour between an online sample of young adults engaging with the European nightlife scene, and an offline sample recruited at nightclubs and festivals in Europe.
Methods: Online participants who attended at least six nightlife events in the past 12 months were recruited using social media advertising (May-November 2017).