Dataset Information

The off-prescription use of modafinil: An online survey of perceived risks and benefits.

ABSTRACT: Cognitive enhancing drugs are claimed to improve cognitive functions such as learning and attention. However, little is known presently about the characteristics of off-prescription cognitive enhancing drug users or their perceived everyday experience with these drugs. As modafinil is the most commonly used off-prescription cognitive enhancing drug, the current study aimed to provide a detailed profile of modafinil users and their experiences and perceptions of this drug. To this end, an online survey, targeting cognitive enhancing drug users and students, was advertised on forum sites. Information was obtained regarding demographic data, illicit drug use, psychiatric diagnosis and experience of modafinil. Of the 404 respondents, 219 reported taking modafinil. Of these the majority were male, American or British, university-educated and currently employed, with a mean age of 27. Overall, modafinil was perceived by users as being safe. Modafinil users reported higher levels of illicit drug use and psychiatric diagnosis than would be expected from population-based data. More frequent reported modafinil use was associated with higher numbers of perceived benefits whilst reported frequency of use was not associated with the number of perceived risks. There was also a tentative link between the reported use of modafinil and the reported presence of psychiatric disorders, largely depression and anxiety. Respondents who had reported a psychiatric diagnosis declared higher subjective benefits of modafinil. This may suggest further beneficial effects of modafinil or it may reflect insufficient medical treatment for psychiatric disorders in some people. Overall, the findings of the current study should be beneficial in informing clinicians and legislative bodies about the modafinil user profile and how modafinil is perceived.

SUBMITTER: Teodorini RD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7001904 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The off-prescription use of modafinil: An online survey of perceived risks and benefits.

Teodorini Rachel D RD Rycroft Nicola N Smith-Spark James H JH

PloS one 20200205 2

Cognitive enhancing drugs are claimed to improve cognitive functions such as learning and attention. However, little is known presently about the characteristics of off-prescription cognitive enhancing drug users or their perceived everyday experience with these drugs. As modafinil is the most commonly used off-prescription cognitive enhancing drug, the current study aimed to provide a detailed profile of modafinil users and their experiences and perceptions of this drug. To this end, an online ...[more]

PMID: 32023288

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Project description:BACKGROUND:In rapidly changing fields such as the study of drug use, the need for accurate and timely data is paramount to properly inform policy and intervention decisions. Trends in drug use can change rapidly by month, and using study designs with flexible modules could present advantages. Timely data from online panels can inform proactive interventions against emerging trends, leading to a faster public response. However, threats to validity from using online panels must be addressed to create accurate estimates. OBJECTIVE:The objective of this study was to demonstrate a comprehensive methodological approach that optimizes a nonprobability, online opt-in sample to provide timely, accurate national estimates on prevalence of drug use. METHODS:The Survey of Non-Medical Use of Prescription Drugs Program from the Researched Abuse, Diversion and Addiction Related Surveillance (RADARS) System is an online, cross-sectional survey on drug use in the United States, and several best practices were implemented. To optimize final estimates, two best practices were investigated in detail: exclusion of respondents showing careless or improbable responding patterns and calibration of weights. The approach in this work was to cumulatively implement each method, which improved key estimates during the third quarter 2018 survey launch. Cutoffs for five exclusion criteria were tested. Using a series of benchmarks, average relative bias and changes in bias were calculated for 33 different weighting variable combinations. RESULTS:There were 148,274 invitations sent to panelists, with 40,021 who initiated the survey (26.99%). After eligibility assessment, 20.23% (29,998/148,274) of the completed questionnaires were available for analysis. A total of 0.52% (157/29,998) of respondents were excluded based on careless or improbable responses; however, these exclusions had larger impacts on lower volume drugs. Number of exclusions applied were negatively correlated to total dispensing volume by drug (Spearman ρ=-.88, P<.001). A weighting scheme including three demographic and two health characteristics reduced average relative bias by 31.2%. After weighting, estimates of drug use decreased, reflecting a weighted sample that had healthier benchmarks than the unweighted sample. CONCLUSIONS:Our study illustrates a new approach to using nonprobability online panels to achieve national prevalence estimates for drug abuse. We were able to overcome challenges with using nonprobability internet samples, including misclassification due to improbable responses. Final drug use and health estimates demonstrated concurrent validity to national probability-based drug use and health surveys. Inclusion of multiple best practices cumulatively improved the estimates generated. This method can bridge the information gap when there is a need for prompt, accurate national data.

Project description:BackgroundElectronic Health Records (EHRs) are now widely used to create a single, shared, and reliable source of patient data throughout healthcare organizations. However, health professionals continue to experience mismatches between their working practices and what the EHR allows or directs them to do. Health professionals adopt working practices other than those imposed by the EHR to overcome such mismatches, known as workarounds. Our study aims to inductively develop a typology of enduring EHR workarounds and explore their consequences by answering the question: What types of EHR workarounds persist, and what are the user-perceived consequences?MethodsThis single case study was conducted within the Internal Medicine department of a Dutch hospital that had implemented an organization-wide, commercial EHR system over two years ago. Data were collected through observations of six EHR users (see Additional file 1, observation scheme) and 17 semi-structured interviews with physicians, nurses, administrators, and EHR support staff members. Documents were analysed to contextualize these data (see Additional file 2, interview protocol).ResultsThrough a qualitative analysis, 11 workarounds were identified, predominantly performed by physicians. These workarounds are categorized into three types either performed while working with the system (in-system workflow sequence workarounds and in-system data entry workarounds) or bypassing the system (out-system workarounds). While these workarounds seem to offer short-term benefits for the performer, they often create threats for the user, the patient, the overall healthcare organization, and the system.ConclusionThis study increases our understanding of the enduring phenomenon of working around Electronic Health Records by presenting a typology of those workarounds that persist after adoption and by reflecting on the user-perceived risks and benefits. The typology helps EHR users and their managers to identify enduring types of workarounds and differentiate between the harmful and less harmful ones. This distinction can inform their decisions to discourage or obviate the need for certain workarounds, while legitimating others.

Dataset Information

The off-prescription use of modafinil: An online survey of perceived risks and benefits.

Publications

The off-prescription use of modafinil: An online survey of perceived risks and benefits.

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