Who is conducting the research?

Chief Investigators:

Prof Grant Devilly (grant@devilly.org)

Chief Inspector Corey Allen (Allen.CoreyM@police.qld.gov.au)

Student Researchers:

Imogene Davidson (imogene.davidson@griffith.edu.au)

Meg Pitceathly (meg.pitceathly@griffithuni.edu.au)

Why is the research being conducted?    

This research project seeks to investigate the effectiveness of a breathalyser-based training program that aims to improve the accuracy of youth estimations of Breath Approximated Blood Alcohol Concentration (BrAC). This study is part of a student research project, in collaboration with Queensland Police, and within the School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University. Approval for this research has been obtained from: Griffith University Human Research Ethics Committee; The heads of individual UQ colleges.

What you will be asked to do?

If you agree to participate, you will be asked to answer questions about your autobiographical information via an electronic survey. You will also be asked to answer questions that relate to your general alcohol use, obtained from the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Concise (AUDIT-C). You will then be given the opportunity to voluntarily consume alcohol and partake in the breathalyser training programme. You can choose to be breathalysed as many times as you wish, with a minimum of 3-4 minutes in-between each test. Prior to breathalyser testing, you will be asked to estimate your BrAC and your subjective interpretation of how drunk you think you are (i.e. not drunk at all, a little drunk, etc.). A brief presentation will also be given by researchers and a member of QLD police regarding previous research in this area. Food and water will also be provided.

Alcohol will be served in accordance with Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) guidelines. Behaviour will be monitored by a Professor of Psychology and a Chief Inspector of Police – both of whom are substance use experts – to ensure the safety of participants and researchers. This study involves the consumption of alcohol and has the potential to initiate undesirable effects. We, the researchers, emphasise that involvement in this study is voluntary, and participants are free to leave the study at any point without further inquiry.

The basis by which participants will be selected or screened.

All participants are recruited from the University of Queensland’s residential colleges. As this study involves the consumption of alcohol, participants must be 18 years or older and provide government issued proof of identification. If you suspect you might be pregnant, are currently pregnant, or breastfeeding, participation in this study is not advised due to the consumption of alcohol.

The expected benefits of the research.

The results of this project will benefit the field of alcohol-related harm reduction. Evaluating the effectiveness of a breathalyser training programme will contribute to research that can inform harm minimisation and safe consumption strategies. It is expected that this research will directly benefit participants by increasing alcohol awareness and safety.  We hope that the training will make people more accurate in their estimation of BrAC and to correlate this with their subjective experience of the alcohol.

Risks to you.

Participation in the breathalyser-based training programme involves minimal risk. Breathalyser testing will be conducted by researchers who have been trained in the use of the Alcholizer LE5 which is certified by Australian standards and used by Australian Police. A police presence will ensure the safety of all participants.

In the unlikely event of distress resulting from your participation in this study, please contact the study principal investigator (Prof Grant Devilly – grant@devilly.org / 0412 157 591). Grant is a clinical psychologist with a background in drug and alcohol research and is registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. We also provide referral options further below.

What is Personal Information?

Personal information is defined as information or an opinion, including information or an opinion forming part of a database, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion. No personal information will be recorded and all participants will be given a four digit number to use when completing the iPad questionnaire.

How are we going to use your Personal Information?

Please review the following definitions for the types of personal data relevant to this study:

1. “Identified” data means the identity of specific individual participants is known or can readily be ascertained.
2. “De-identified” data means that all identifiers will be removed from the data prior to any publication of the data, re-use of the data (e.g., in related research) or sharing of the data (e.g., with other researchers). De-identified data can include information that has been coded so that it is possible to know that data relate to the same person, but it does not identify them.

Within this study, “Identified” data will not be used for any research purposes. Upon completion of the study, a summary of the results will be emailed to you, but this information will not be linked to data collected from the study.

“Deidentified” data will be used as part of this study. As this study involves repeated measures, your data will be coded in a way that allows researchers to determine that information from sequential measurement points relates to the same individual four digit number. This “unique participant identifier” will be assigned randomly and will allow researchers to group participant scores without any identifiable personal information. Regardless of whether these data are re-used, shared with other researchers, or formally published, third parties will not be able to identify you from this information.

To whom are we going to give this Personal Information?

De-identified data may be shared with fellow researchers at other Universities or organisations to assist them in pursuing alternate research questions. We will also be publishing research papers from this study. The results will also be reported in academic honours theses. We will also create a report for the University colleges (in grouped data form where individual college data will not be included). In all cases, Griffith University will maintain control over the data and no agency will have the ability to identify you from this information.

How will this Personal Information be stored?

All data collected from this study will be electronically stored by the research team who will retain control over the data. It should be noted that QuickTapSurvey uses online servers to store information, however, all data will be stored in de-identified form. Your information will only be stored for as long as necessary to complete all tasks related to the research project (e.g., formal publication + 5 years).

Your participation is voluntary.

Your participation in this study is completely voluntary. Should you choose to participate, you are encouraged to complete all questions and repeated measures within the study, however, you are not forced to do so. Additionally, due to the nature of the study, you are free to withdraw at any time, for any reason, without judgement or consequence. Should you wish to withdraw, simply notify the research team either verbally or via email. As a precaution, a member of the research team will follow you up to check on how you are if you withdraw from the study. Just tell us your four-digit number and the night of data collection and we will remove all your data from the database.

Should you not wish to participate in the research but would not like people to know, just endorse the “I do not give permission to take part in the study” option on the first page of the iPad survey. You can the complete the rest (and put in any random information) knowing that your data will not be used.

Your decision to participate in (or withdraw from) this study will, in no way, affect your standing with University of Queensland or Griffith University.

The ethical conduct of this research

Griffith University conducts all research in accordance with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research.  If you have any concerns or complaints about the ethical conduct of the research project, contact Research Ethics on 3735 4375 or research-ethics@griffith.edu.au.

Feedback to you

After completion of the study, we will submit to you a summary of the results of the research project. Due to the de-identified nature of the data, researchers are not able to provide specific information regarding individual performance. If requested, feedback will be provided prior to any formal publication of results. A generic report will be created and made available to the colleges.

Privacy Statement

“The conduct of this research involves the collection, access, storage and/or use of your identified personal information. The information collected is confidential and will not be disclosed to third parties without your consent, except to meet government, legal or other regulatory authority requirements.   A de-identified copy of this data may be used for other research purposes, including publishing openly (e.g. in an open access repository). However, your anonymity will at all times be safeguarded.”

Online Participation

All data collection will occur via the online survey platform, QuickTapSurvey. Griffith University is dedicated to the confidentiality and security of your data. For more information, follow the above link.

Contact Numbers for Assistance (should you require any):