Methamphetamine and injecting drug use cohort studies: MIXMAX
MIXMAX is the largest active cohort study of people who use drugs in Australia.
This study combines 2 pre-existing studies:
- SuperMIX – the largest and longest running cohort study of people who inject drugs in Australia (2008 onwards).
- VMAX – a cohort study determining patterns of methamphetamine use and harm in metropolitan and rural Victoria. The study is focused on methamphetamine smoking (2016 onwards).
The 2 studies have combined to establish new evidence on the harms of injecting drug use and methamphetamine use, and the effectiveness health programs and treatments to address them.
A cohort study is a research method where scientists follow a group of people over time to see how certain things, like habits or exposures, affect their health.
Student opportunities
Social networks of people who use drugs
Help us understand the characteristics study participant social networks. Investigate the influence of these characteristics on drug-related risk behaviours and harms, including cessation from and relapse into drug use, and overdose.
Open to
- Masters by research
- PhD
- Honours
- Masters by coursework
Supervisors
Tobacco/nicotine harm reduction among people with a history of illicit drug use
Quantitative research including:
- analysis of trends in prevalence of daily tobacco use, quantity of cigarettes smoked daily, and/or vape use
- analysis of longitudinal changes in individual smoking behaviours
- estimation of incidence of tobacco-related chronic disease hospital admissions.
Open to
- Masters by research
- Honours
Vacancies
1
Supervisors
Measuring risk and health outcomes among women who use drugs
Qualitative and quantitative research, including:
- conducting in-depth interviews with study participants to better understand their experiences as people who inject drugs
- analysis of longitudinal survey data, characterising and assessing its suitability to understand behavioural risk and health outcomes among women.
Open to
- Honours
- Masters by research
Vacancies
2
Supervisors
Understanding the needs of women who inject drugs
Qualitative and quantitative research, or mixed methods research including:
- conducting in-depth interviews with women of the SuperMIX study, to better understand their gendered experiences as people who inject drugs
- analysis of longitudinal SuperMIX survey data to characterise the qualitative research sample and/or understand and compare differences between selected variables (experiences) of men/women.
Open to
- Honours
- Masters by research
Supervisors
Featured publications
Injection Drug Use Frequency Before and After Take-Home Naloxone Training
JAMA Network Open
Samantha Colledge‐Frisby et al
The impacts of COVID‐19 measures on drug markets and drug use among a cohort of people who use methamphetamine in Victoria, Australia
Addiction
Kasun Rathnayake et al
Prevalence and Correlates of Panic Attacks Among People Who Primarily Smoke Methamphetamine
International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
Rochelle Hine et al
The prevalence of drug driving and being caught for a drug driving offense among community-recruited people who use methamphetamine in metropolitan and rural Victoria, Australia
Traffic Injury Prevention
Claire Nightingale et al
Interventions to support parents who use methamphetamine: A narrative systematic review
Children and Youth Services Review
Bernadette Ward et al
Health Service Use for Mental Health Reasons in a Cohort of People Who Use Methamphetamine Experiencing Moderate to Severe Anxiety or Depression
International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
Zoe Duncan et al
Level and correlates of social support in a community‐based sample of Australians who primarily smoke methamphetamine
Health & Social Care in the Community
Michael Leach et al
Qualitative understandings of access to primary care services for consumers who use methamphetamine
Australian Journal of General Practice
Bernadette Ward et al
Correlates of anxiety and depression in a community cohort of people who smoke methamphetamine
Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
Zoe Duncan et al
A prospective cohort of people who use methamphetamine in Melbourne and non‐metropolitan Victoria, Australia: Baseline characteristics and correlates of methamphetamine dependence
Drug and Alcohol Review
Brendan Quinn et al
Parent and child co‐resident status among an Australian community‐based sample of methamphetamine smokers
Drug and Alcohol Review
Bernadette Ward et al
Partners
Funding partners
- National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Grant ID: 2023690.
Collaborators
- Monash Rural Health
- British Columbia Centre on Substance Use
- Curtin University
- Deakin University
- University of Bristol
- School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University
- Kirby Institute
- UNSW Sydney
- Alfred Health
- Harm Reduction Victoria
- Royal Melbourne Hospital
Project contacts
Main contacts
Professor Paul Dietze
Program Director, Disease Elimination; Professor and Program Leader, National Drug Research Institute (NDRI)
Student supervisor contacts
Professor Paul Dietze
Program Director, Disease Elimination; Professor and Program Leader, National Drug Research Institute (NDRI)
Associate Professor Peter Higgs
Principal Research Fellow; Honorary Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, La Trobe University
Associate Professor Peter Higgs
Principal Research Fellow; Honorary Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, La Trobe University
Project team
Professor Paul Dietze
Program Director, Disease Elimination; Professor and Program Leader, National Drug Research Institute (NDRI)
Troy Combo
Program Manager, Aboriginal Health Plan, EC Australia
Dr Samantha Colledge-Frisby
Honorary Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Filip Djordjevic
Research Assistant
Professor Joseph (Joe) Doyle
Deputy Program Director, Disease Elimination; Co-Head, Infectious Diseases Clinical Research; President, Hepatitis Australia; NHMRC Clinical Research Fellow
Associate Professor Anna Hearps
Deputy Program Director, Disease Elimination; Head, Infection, Inflammation and Innate Immunity
Zachary Lloyd
Research Assistant
Matthew Gill
PhD Student
Gulliver McLean
Research Assistant
Rebekka (Bek) Petrovic
Research Assistant
Dr Amanda Roxburgh
Senior Research Fellow
Professor Mark A Stoové
Head of Public Health
Bianca Whiteside
PhD candidate; Research Assistant
Joanna Wilson
Research Assistant
Associate Professor Bernadette Ward
Collaborator
Monash Rural Health
Dr Thomas Kerr
Collaborator
British Columbia Centre on Substance Use
Dr Jocelyn Jones
Collaborator
Curtin University
Associate Professor Paul Agius
Honorary Principal Research Fellow
Professor Matthew Hickman
Professor in Public Health and Epidemiology
University of Bristol
Associate Professor James Trauer
Head of Epidemiological Modelling
School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University
Professor Lisa Maher
Collaborator
Kirby Institute and UNSW Sydney
Associate Professor Andrew Stewardson
Infection Prevention and Healthcare Epidemiology
Alfred Health; Monash Univesity
Sione Crawford
CEO
Harm Reduction Victoria