NCJ Number
197215
Journal
Drug and Alcohol Review Volume: 21 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2002 Pages: 275-280
Date Published
September 2002
Length
6 pages
Annotation
A community survey of the common mental disorders in a geographically defined treatment service area in Australia was used to explore the socio-demographic correlates and service use by people with alcohol-use and drug-use disorders living in the area.
Abstract
A random sample of 15,000 households (based on telephone numbers) in the Richmond Valley area were contacted and asked to participate in a longitudinal health survey. Of the 13,544 numbers that were residential, 9,226 people agreed to be interviewed. Respondents were interviewed by telephone with a screening instrument for mental disorders derived from that used by Mroczek and Kessler. Respondents were likely to meet criteria for at least one mental disorder (n=1,512); a sample of people unlikely to meet these criteria (n=963) were then asked to participate in a three-wave longitudinal health survey. A total of 1,316 of those likely to have a mental disorder and 729 of the controls agreed to be interviewed. Of these, 1,364 completed the first wave, computer-assisted personal interview in their homes. The interview schedule was the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being. The focus of that survey was disorders present in the past 12 months. Findings show that alcohol-use and drug-use disorders were most likely to be found in the young, with those 18- to 34- years-old being three times more likely to have an alcohol-use disorder than those aged 55 years old and over. A third (33 percent) of those people with an alcohol-use disorder and 42 percent of those with a drug-use disorder had consulted a health professional in the past 12 months for their substance-use disorder. 2 tables and 16 references