Barriers to help‐seeking among music festival attendees in New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

Introduction. Prompt help-seeking behaviour by music festival attendees can reduce risks associated with drug use; however, little is known about perceived barriers to help-seeking when experiencing or witnessing illness at music festivals. We explored potential barriers and their association with festivalgoer characteristics. Methods. We conducted an on-site cross-sectional survey of attendees at New South Wales music festivals in 2019/2020. Perceived barriers to help-seeking in the hypothetical event of the respondent or a friend becoming unwell at the festival were assessed, and regression analyses were conducted to identify characteristics associated with these barriers. Results. Across six festivals, 1229 people were surveyed and four-fifths (83.2%) reported ≥1 barrier: 32.7% fear of getting in trouble with the police, 20.6% not knowing where to find help, 17.2% not knowing how unwell someone might be and 15.3% concern about friends or relatives finding out. In multivariable analyses, people of diverse sexuality and people using drugs that day had greater odds of reporting fear of trouble with the police. People reporting drug use that day had lower odds of reporting not knowing where to find help. Men, gender-diverse people and people using drugs that day had greater odds of reporting concern about friends or relatives finding out. Discussion and Conclusions. Our data substantiate concerns regarding policing strategies and their impact on festivals. Initiatives to support conversations about drugs with friends and families may be best targeted to younger people and those from gender-diverse backgrounds.

Understandings, attitudes, practices and responses to GHB overdose among GHB consumers

“…Several participants reported that the fear of ‘getting into trouble’ was a barrier to calling an ambulance, believing that police always attend when paramedics are called to assist with overdose. Similar barriers have been observed in the broader drug overdose response literature [ 42 – 44 ].…”

Encounters with police drug detection dogs at music festivals amongst people who regularly use ecstasy and/or other illicit stimulants in Australia

“…Concerningly, drug dog presence and some associated police behaviours may compromise both policecommunity relations and access to harm reduction services. Fear of getting into trouble with police is a consistently reported barrier to help seeking amongst people who use drugs at music festivals [18][19][20]. While most encounters occurred at festival entrances, the number of encounters occurring within festival grounds may indicate increasing pervasiveness of drug dog operations.…”

A Scoping Review of Australian Literature on People Who Use MDMA and Their Harm Reduction Practices

“…MDMA and other psychoactive drugs have a long history of association with party cultures, and the potential for experiencing drug-related harm in these settings has been well-documented (AAP, 2017; Anderson, 2017; Ferraro, 2006; Grahame, 2019; Parliament of Victoria, 2003; Spanos, 2021). Despite dominant perceptions of drug use in party settings as harmful, research suggests that most illicit drug use among Australian partygoers is “occasional and relatively non-problematic” (Hughes et al, 2019, p. 7).…”

“…In academic literature, the task of documenting risks associated with MDMA use has sometimes overshadowed attempts to foreground narratives of the lived experience of drug use. Australian literature on what are considered more harmful consumption practices around MDMA has identified numerous "risky" behaviors, including double dropping (two doses of MDMA at once) (Grigg et al, 2018(Grigg et al, , 2022Page et al, 2022), higher rates of alcohol consumption while using MDMA (Page et al, 2022;Kinner et al, 2012;Peacock et al, 2016), polysubstance use (Page et al, 2022;Peacock et al, 2016), and consuming high quantities of MDMA in a single session (Page et al, 2022). Physical harms related to MDMA are well-documented in the literature (Todd et al, 2019;White et al, 2006) and although uncommon, can include hypertension (Vollenweider et al, 1998), hyperthermia (Green et al, 2004), serotonin syndrome (Parrott, 2002), seizures (Giorgi et al, 2006), stroke (Darke et al, 2019), hyponatremia (Budisavljevic et al, 2003), and cardiac arrest (Fonseca et al, 2021).…”