Thesis
Beyond drink spiking: The prevalence of alcohol, psychoactive substances, and medications in drug facilitated sexual assaults
Honours, Murdoch University
2023
Abstract
Background: Drink spiking in social settings is one of the most pervasive forms of drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA). There is no current data on the rates of drink spiking or their associated assaults. There is also little known about the prevalence of different substances involved and how the current substance use trends influence sexual assault trends.
Methods: An anonymous survey was distributed around a Western Australian University to collect data on individual experience of drink spiking. Data about recent trends of mental health prescriptions and sexual assault were obtained from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). A recalculation of sexual assault trends to estimate substance related sexual assault was performed.
Results: The survey received six responses from participants, five female and one male participant. Only two participants were using other substances, one antidepressant and one stimulant. The analysis of datasets from AIHW highlighted that females are the highest consumers of antidepressants and benzodiazepines. It also revealed a statistically significant correlation between females and a higher incidence of sexual assault (r=0.996 with a p-value <0.001).
Conclusions: This paper demonstrates that females are at most risk of drug-drug interactions (e.g., diazepam and ketamine) with their medications due to the higher rate of prescriptions amongst this population. The small survey sample size limited the significance of its findings. The analysis of the datasets demonstrate that females are assaulted at a significantly greater rate than males.
Details
- Title
- Beyond drink spiking: The prevalence of alcohol, psychoactive substances, and medications in drug facilitated sexual assaults
- Authors/Creators
- Marie-Charmaine Lynam
- Contributors
- John Coumbaros (Supervisor) - Murdoch University, School of Medical, Molecular and Forensic SciencesGarth Maker (Supervisor) - Murdoch University, Centre for Computational and Systems MedicineDavid Keatley (Supervisor) - Murdoch University, Centre for Biosecurity and One Health
- Awarding Institution
- Murdoch University; Honours
- Identifiers
- 991005621370307891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Medical, Molecular and Forensic Sciences
- Resource Type
- Thesis
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