Assessing community support for harm reduction services: comparing two measures.
OBJECTIVE
Previous attitudinal research has found that the way survey questions are asked can influence respondents' answers regarding their support for sensitive issues. This study aimed to explore whether findings regarding community support for harm reduction services could be manipulated through priming of language and information contained within survey items.


METHODS
A convenience sample of 260 university students from Sydney Australia were surveyed during late 2008 about their attitudes towards harm reduction services. Participants were randomly allocated to two groups: one received a questionnaire that provided factual information about harm reduction services (Survey 1), while a second group received a questionnaire that contained no information about harm reduction services and framed heroin use as problematic (Survey 2).


RESULTS
Participants who completed Survey 1 expressed significantly higher levels of support for harm reduction services overall than participants who completed Survey 2 (t((249)) = -5.8, P < 0.001). Regression analysis indicated that overall support for harm reduction services was associated with the survey version that participants received and participants' political affiliations. These two factors accounted for 17.5% of the variance in the data.


CONCLUSIONS
Research findings regarding community support for harm reduction services are influenced by questionnaire design. This has implications for the development and expansion of harm reduction services and policy.
Hopwood
Max
M
National Centre in HIV Social Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. m.hopwood@unsw.edu.au
Brener
Loren
L
Frankland
Andrew
A
Treloar
Carla
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D040261:Harm Reduction; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009517:New South Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D012946:Social Welfare / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult