ORCID Profile
0000-0003-2494-4391
Current Organisation
University of Sydney
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Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 10-08-2021
DOI: 10.2196/29026
Abstract: The Cracks in the Ice (CITI) community toolkit was developed to provide evidence-based, up-to-date information and resources about crystal meth hetamine to Australians. Given the high rates of internet use in the community and the potential for misinformation, CITI has the potential to play an important role in improving knowledge and challenging misconceptions surrounding crystal meth hetamine. This study aims to determine (1) whether the CITI toolkit is achieving its aim of disseminating evidence-based information and resources to people who use crystal meth hetamine, their family and friends, health professionals, and the general community and (2) examine the association between the use of CITI and the knowledge and attitudes about crystal meth hetamine. A cross-sectional web-based survey, open to Australian residents (aged ≥18 years), was conducted from November 2018 to March 2019. People who had previously visited the website (referred to as “website visitors” in this study) and those who had not (“naïve”) were recruited. At baseline, knowledge, attitudes, and demographics were assessed. CITI website visitors then completed a series of site evaluation questions, including the System Usability Scale (SUS), and naïve participants were asked to undertake a guided site tour of a replicated version of the site before completing the evaluation questions and repeating knowledge and attitude scales. Of a total 2108 participants, 564 (26.7%) reported lifetime use of crystal meth hetamine, 434 (20.6%) were family/friends, 288 (13.7%) were health professionals, and 822 (38.9%) were community members. The average SUS score was 73.49 (SD 13.30), indicating good site usability. Health professionals reported significantly higher SUS scores than community members (P=.02) and people who used crystal meth hetamine (P .001). Website visitors had significantly higher baseline knowledge than naïve participants (P .001). Among naïve participants, knowledge scores increased following exposure to the website (mean 15.2, SE 0.05) compared to baseline (mean 14.4, SE 0.05 P .001). The largest shifts in knowledge were observed for items related to prevalence, legal issues, and the effects of the drug. Stigmatizing attitude scores among the naïve group were significantly lower following exposure to CITI (mean 41.97, SE 0.21) compared to baseline (mean 44.3, SE 0.21 P .001). This study provides an innovative evaluation of a national eHealth resource. CITI is achieving its aim of disseminating evidence-based, nonstigmatizing, and useful information and resources about crystal meth hetamine to key end user groups and has received good usability scores across its target groups. Interaction with CITI led to immediate improvements in knowledge about crystal meth hetamine and a decrease in stigmatizing attitudes. CITI demonstrates the important role of digital information and support platforms for translating evidence into practice and improving knowledge and reducing stigma.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2021
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 23-03-2021
Abstract: he i Cracks in the Ice /i (CITI) community toolkit was developed to provide evidence-based, up-to-date information and resources about crystal meth hetamine to Australians. Given the high rates of internet use in the community and the potential for misinformation, CITI has the potential to play an important role in improving knowledge and challenging misconceptions surrounding crystal meth hetamine. his study aims to determine (1) whether the CITI toolkit is achieving its aim of disseminating evidence-based information and resources to people who use crystal meth hetamine, their family and friends, health professionals, and the general community and (2) examine the association between the use of CITI and the knowledge and attitudes about crystal meth hetamine. cross-sectional web-based survey, open to Australian residents (aged ≥18 years), was conducted from November 2018 to March 2019. People who had previously visited the website (referred to as “website visitors” in this study) and those who had not (“naïve”) were recruited. At baseline, knowledge, attitudes, and demographics were assessed. CITI website visitors then completed a series of site evaluation questions, including the System Usability Scale (SUS), and naïve participants were asked to undertake a guided site tour of a replicated version of the site before completing the evaluation questions and repeating knowledge and attitude scales. f a total 2108 participants, 564 (26.7%) reported lifetime use of crystal meth hetamine, 434 (20.6%) were family/friends, 288 (13.7%) were health professionals, and 822 (38.9%) were community members. The average SUS score was 73.49 (SD 13.30), indicating good site usability. Health professionals reported significantly higher SUS scores than community members ( i P /i =.02) and people who used crystal meth hetamine ( i P /i & .001). Website visitors had significantly higher baseline knowledge than naïve participants ( i P /i & .001). Among naïve participants, knowledge scores increased following exposure to the website (mean 15.2, SE 0.05) compared to baseline (mean 14.4, SE 0.05 i P /i & .001). The largest shifts in knowledge were observed for items related to prevalence, legal issues, and the effects of the drug. Stigmatizing attitude scores among the naïve group were significantly lower following exposure to CITI (mean 41.97, SE 0.21) compared to baseline (mean 44.3, SE 0.21 i P /i & .001). his study provides an innovative evaluation of a national eHealth resource. CITI is achieving its aim of disseminating evidence-based, nonstigmatizing, and useful information and resources about crystal meth hetamine to key end user groups and has received good usability scores across its target groups. Interaction with CITI led to immediate improvements in knowledge about crystal meth hetamine and a decrease in stigmatizing attitudes. CITI demonstrates the important role of digital information and support platforms for translating evidence into practice and improving knowledge and reducing stigma.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.PBB.2015.09.005
Abstract: There is a complex relationship between drug dependence and stress, with alcohol and other drugs of abuse both relieving stress and potentially inducing physiological stress responses in the user. Opioid drugs have been shown to modulate hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activity in animal models and in idual response to this modulation may play a role in continuation of drug use. Healthy young Caucasian adults were administered a single dose of immediate release oxycodone (20mg, n=30) or assigned to a control group (n=19) that was not administered the drug. At 0, 1, 2, 4 and 6h post-administration, blood and saliva s les were collected along with assessment of pupil diameter. The HPA response was determined by measurement of salivary cortisol through a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results were compared to genotype at the -511 and -31 positions in the interleukin1B (IL1B) gene. No difference in cortisol production was initially observed between the two groups, however, when participants were separated based on their genotype for two single nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter of the IL1B gene, which have been shown to occur at a higher frequency in opioid-dependent populations, in iduals carrying the -511T and -31 C alleles (-511 C/T, -31 C/T or -511 T/T, -31 C/C) had a significantly (p<0.05) higher cortisol levels compared to in iduals homozygous for the -511 C and -31T alleles. These results suggest that in iduals carrying the -511T and -31 C alleles experience HPA activation in response to opioid administration and therefore may be less likely to undertake subsequent self-administration.
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Date: 2015
DOI: 10.1039/C5AN01754H
Abstract: Surface assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (SALDI-MS) with porous silicon microparticles was used for the all-in-one extraction and detection of illicit drugs from saliva, urine and plasma.
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 26-07-2023
Abstract: he use of Generative Artificial Intelligence, more specifically Large Language Models (LLMs), is proliferating and as such it is vital to consider both the value and risks of its use in health education. The efficiency in a variety of writing styles makes LLMs attractive for tailoring educational materials. However, this technology can feature biases and misinformation, which can be particularly harmful in medical education settings, such as mental health and substance use education. This viewpoint investigates if LLMs are sufficient for two common health education functions, namely users’ direct queries and as aids in the development of quality consumer educational health materials for the field of mental health and substance use. nsight into the accessibility, biases and quality of LLM produced query responses and educational health materials will enable us to provide guidance for the general public and health educators wishing to utilise GPT-4, the most common LLM among the general public. e collected real world queries and engineered a variety of prompts to use on GPT-4 Pro with the Bing BETA internet browsing plug-in. The outputs were evaluated with tools from the Sydney Health Literacy Lab to determine accessibility the adherence to Mindframe communication guidelines to identify biases tailoring to audiences, duty of care disclaimers, and evidence-based internet references were utilised to assess quality. PT-4’s outputs have good face-validity, but upon detailed analysis are substandard. Without engineered prompting, the reading level, adherence to communication guidelines, and use of evidence-based websites is poor. Therefore, all outputs still require caution, human editing and oversight. PT-4 is currently not reliable enough for direct-consumer queries, but educators and researchers can utilise it for creating educational materials with caution. Materials created with LLMs should disclose the use of Generative AI and be evaluated on their efficacy with the target audience.
No related grants have been discovered for Stephanie Kershaw.