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“I knew where help was.” Identifying Substance Use Patterns, Associated Predictors of Harm, and Barriers to Help Seeking among Music Festival Attendees: The Development of a Targeted Harm Reduction Intervention / Chloe Rayner

Swansea University Author: Chloe Rayner

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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.66311

Abstract

This thesis explores substance use among music festival attendees alongside experiences of harm, with an overarching aim to develop a novel preventative intervention rooted within harm-reduction principles. The integrative systematic literature review (Chapter 4) examined a spectrum of harm-reductio...

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Published: Swansea, Wales, UK 2024
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Davies, Jason ; Bradshaw, Ceri ; Jones, Alex
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa66311
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Abstract: This thesis explores substance use among music festival attendees alongside experiences of harm, with an overarching aim to develop a novel preventative intervention rooted within harm-reduction principles. The integrative systematic literature review (Chapter 4) examined a spectrum of harm-reduction interventions targeting substance use at music festivals and similar settings. This review highlighted the lack of psychoeducational harm-reduction interventions which target attendee substance use. An online quantitative study (Chapter 5) with festival attendees (N=773) collected data about substance use during music festivals aiming to develop models of predictors associated with harm to be identified, highlighting the impact of alcohol use, and polysubstance use. The subsequent qualitative study (Chapter 6) explored the experiences of 21 frontline festival workers aiming to determine barriers to effective service delivery namely, law enforcement presence, perceived stigma, environmental factors, and a lack of education for music festival attendees. Findings from the review and the two empirical studies described above were used to create a novel, online video promoting harm-reduction through a psychoeducational format. A two-part pilot study with individuals planning festival attendance (N = 468) was conducted. Pre-intervention, data on intended substance use and behaviours were recorded. Following festival attendance post-intervention, recalled substance use was reported. Data from participants who completed both study components (N=68) supported efficacy of the intervention in reducing harm and increasing receptiveness to help-seeking. Ways to improve engagement and efficacy were also identified. This research demonstrates the potential effectiveness of a short psychoeducational intervention targeting music festivals attendees. This approach will likely benefit individuals and public health agencies, and is also economically advantageous, able to reach large numbers of people, reducing harm with low financial and resource costs. This approach now requires widescale testing to confirm its potential public health impact. An extended abstract is appended (Appendix A).
Keywords: psychology, harm-reduction, music festivals, young people, interventions, health psychology, health behaviour change, brief interventions, online interventions, substance use, drug use, alcohol use, risk behaviours
College: Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences