Citation

Kirtadze I, Otiashvili D, Tabatadze M, Vardanashvili I, Sturua L, Zabranský T, Anthony JC. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2018; 187: 300-304.

Affiliation

Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.03.019

PMID

29704851

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Validity of responses in surveys is an important research concern, especially in emerging market economies where surveys in the general population are a novelty, and the level of social control is traditionally higher. The Randomized Response Technique (RRT) can be used as a check on response validity when the study aim is to estimate population prevalence of drug experiences and other socially sensitive and/or illegal behaviors.

AIM: To apply RRT and to study potential under-reporting of drug use in a nation-scale, population-based general population survey of alcohol and other drug use.

METHODS: For this first-ever household survey on addictive substances for the Country of Georgia, we used the multi-stage probability sampling of 18-to-64-year-old household residents of 111 urban and 49 rural areas. During the interviewer-administered assessments, RRT involved pairing of sensitive and non-sensitive questions about drug experiences.

RESULTS: Based upon the standard household self-report survey estimate, an estimated 17.3% [95% confidence interval, CI: 15.5%, 19.1%] of Georgian household residents have tried cannabis. The corresponding RRT estimate was 29.9% [95% CI: 24.9%, 34.9%]. The RRT estimates for other drugs such as heroin also were larger than the standard self-report estimates.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: We remain unsure about what is the "true" value for prevalence of using illegal psychotropic drugs in the Republic of Georgia study population. Our RRT results suggest that standard non-RRT approaches might produce 'under-estimates' or at best, highly conservative, lower-end estimates.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Drug use; Randomized response techniques; Self-report; Surveys