Know The Score: Heroin 2005 Pre- And Post-Campaign Evaluation

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  • TNS System Three was commissioned by the Office of Chief Researcher ( OCR) to conduct research to monitor the effectiveness of the latest strand of the Know the Score campaign which focused on Heroin misuse.
  • The research project consisted of three parts. TNS System Three conducted pre and post advertising research amongst the general population of Scotland. The TNS System Three omnibus, Scottish Opinion Survey ( SOS), was used as the vehicle for data collection. Across Scotland, 1039 adults aged 16 and above were interviewed in the first, pre-campaign wave, over the period 28 th July - 2 nd August, and 1033 at the second, post-campaign wave, over the period 22 nd - 28 th September. In addition, an ad hoc booster survey was conducted with 16-25 year olds in socially deprived areas of Scotland 1 over the period 15 th - 19 th September 2005, following the advertising. When the boost is combined with those aged 16-25 and of social classes 2 C2DE, the sample size for 'young people' is 144. All interviews were conducted on CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing).

Young people

  • Self reported drug usage was higher amongst 20-25 year olds than 16-19 year olds (55% compared to 24% ever taken, 27% compared to 9% take nowadays).
  • 8% of those who had taken drugs had taken heroin.
  • 61% were aware of advertising on heroin misuse, with TV the dominant medium (91% of those who were aware of advertising recalled having seen something on TV).
  • Of those who claimed to have seen TV advertising, 70% mentioned an aspect which could be attributed to the current Heroin campaign.
  • When prompted with recent advertising from the relevant media, 77% recalled having seen the TV advert, 56% recalled having heard the radio advert and 44% recalled having seen a poster.
  • At a spontaneous level, no respondents were aware of Know the Score as a source of advice for heroin misuse. When prompted, 63% were aware of this.
  • Knowledge of the addictiveness of heroin amongst those with experience of drugs was high, with almost universal agreement (95%) that Smoking heroin leads to heroin addiction and Injecting heroin leads to heroin addiction (96%). Although slightly lower, 83% agreed that Smoking heroin leads to injecting heroin.
  • Knowledge of the most common way to take heroin was quite mixed. Forty-nine per cent believed both injecting and smoking were equally the most common whilst 22% thought injecting it and 21% smoking it were the most common.
  • Eighty per cent agreed that People who use drugs are wasting their lives and 72% agreed that There is advice readily available for anybody who wants or needs this.
  • On most attitudinal statements regarding heroin, there was high strength of feeling:
    • 93% agreed that Taking heroin can harm relationships with family and friends (83% agreed strongly);
    • 92% agreed that Smoking heroin can turn anyone into an addict (81% agreed strongly);
    • 90% disagreed that It is okay for people to take heroin occasionally (85% disagreed strongly);
    • 83% disagreed that People are more in control when taking heroin than other drugs (69% disagreed strongly);
    • 78% disagreed that Heroin is less addictive than other drugs (70% disagreed strongly);
    • 74% agreed that There are more serious health risks associated with taking heroin than other drugs (56% agreed strongly) ;
    • The lowest level of agreement was for It's obvious to tell by looking at a person whether they have taken heroin (66%), and only 37% agreed strongly.

General population

  • In Wave 1, 19% of the general population sample reported having ever taken drugs, compared to 24% at Wave 2, 5% and 8% respectively took drugs nowadays and just over a third at each wave knew somebody who had taken drugs.
  • At both waves, similar numbers of those who had taken drugs had taken heroin (7% and 6% respectively).
  • Fifty four per cent at Wave 2 had seen advertising on heroin misuse, 88% of these recalled having seen something on TV.
  • Amongst those who claimed to have seen a TV advert, 48% mentioned something which can be attributed directly to the latest heroin misuse advert.
  • When prompted with each of the media, when played the TV advert, 64% recalled having seen it, 39% recalled the radio advert and 25% recalled having seen at least one of the posters.
  • Less than 1% of the sample at each wave was spontaneously aware of Know the Score as a source of advice on heroin and on prompting, 35% at Wave 1 and 37% at Wave 2 were aware of this.
  • There was high agreement on statements relating to awareness of heroin addiction at both Waves 1 and 2 - Smoking heroin leads to heroin addiction (89% at each wave), Injecting heroin leads to heroin addiction (94% compared to 92%) and Smoking heroin leads to injecting heroin (71% compared to 74%).
  • There were changes between the waves in perceptions of the most common way of taking heroin. At Wave 1, 40% believed the most common way was to inject, compared to 27% at the post. At Wave 1, 14% said smoking it, compared to 21% at Wave 2 whilst 40% and 39% respectively said both were equally common.
  • There was little movement on agreement with general attitudinal statements related to drugs between the waves. Around four fifths agreed that People who use drugs are wasting their lives (87% Wave 1 and 88% Wave 2) and 79% at Wave 1 and 79% at Wave 2 agreed that There is advice readily available for anybody on drugs who wants or needs this.
  • There was also little movement in statements related directly to heroin:
    • 95% (pre) and 94% (post) agreed that Taking heroin can harm relationships with family and friend;
    • 87% at each wave agreed that Smoking heroin can turn anyone into an addict;
    • 89% at each wave disagreed that It is okay for people to take heroin occasionally;
    • 77% and 76% respectively disagreed that People are more in control when taking heroin than other drugs;
    • 74% and 73% disagreed that Heroin is less addictive than other drugs;
    • 66% and 62% agreed that There are more serious health risks associated with taking heroin than other drugs;
    • The lowest level of agreement was for It's obvious to tell by looking at a person whether they have taken heroin (48% and 44%).

Page updated: Monday, February 13, 2006