Methamphetamine and injecting drug use cohort studies: MIXMAX

Open to students

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

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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

Contact

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

Supervisors

Contact

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

Supervisors

Contact

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

Contact

News and features

New insights into methamphetamine-related deaths in Australia

Exploring drug use in older adults: APSAD 2024

Featured publications

04 Aug 2023

Injection Drug Use Frequency Before and After Take-Home Naloxone Training

JAMA Network Open

Kasun Rathnayake, Samantha Colledge‐Frisby, Suzanne Nielsen, Mark Stoové, Paul A. Agius, Peter Higgs, Paul Dietze, Samantha Colledge‐Frisby, Kasun Rathnayake, Suzanne Nielsen

Open access

15 Mar 2023

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, Paul A. Agius, Bernadette Ward, Lisa Maher, Mark Stoové, Joseph Doyle, Margaret Hellard, Anna L. Wilkinson, Brendan Quinn, Keith Sutton

Open access

24 Mar 2023

Prevalence and Correlates of Panic Attacks Among People Who Primarily Smoke Methamphetamine

International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction

Brendan Quinn, Paul Dietze

Open access

20 Jan 2023

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

Mark Stoové, Brendan Quinn, Paul Dietze

05 May 2022

Interventions to support parents who use methamphetamine: A narrative systematic review

Children and Youth Services Review

Bernadette Ward, Paul Dietze

25 Jul 2022

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

Brendan Quinn, Paul Dietze

Open access

14 Jul 2022

Level and correlates of social support in a community‐based sample of Australians who primarily smoke methamphetamine

Health & Social Care in the Community

Bernadette Ward, Brendan Quinn, Paul A. Agius, Keith Sutton, Paul Dietze

30 Jun 2021

Qualitative understandings of access to primary care services for consumers who use methamphetamine

Australian Journal of General Practice

Bernadette Ward, Richard Lane, Brendan Quinn, Grant Russell

Open access

24 Sep 2021

Correlates of anxiety and depression in a community cohort of people who smoke methamphetamine

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry

Keith Sutton, Bernadette Ward, Paul A. Agius, Brendan Quinn, Paul Dietze

11 Nov 2020

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

Cristal Hall, Brendan Quinn, Bernadette Ward, Paul A. Agius, Rebecca Jenkinson, Keith Sutton, Reece Cossar, Paul Dietze, Brendan Quinn, Bernadette Ward

Open access

08 Sep 2020

Parent and child co‐resident status among an Australian community‐based sample of methamphetamine smokers

Drug and Alcohol Review

Bernadette Ward, Paul A. Agius, Brendan Quinn, Rebecca Jenkinson, Keith Sutton, Paul Dietze

Open access

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

Health themes

Projects

Published research

Careers

Study at Burnet

About us

Where we work

Methamphetamine and injecting drug use cohort studies: MIXMAX

Student opportunities

Social networks of people who use drugs

Open to

Supervisors

Contact

Tobacco/nicotine harm reduction among people with a history of illicit drug use

Open to

Vacancies

Supervisors

Contact

Measuring risk and health outcomes among women who use drugs

Open to

Vacancies

Supervisors

Contact

Understanding the needs of women who inject drugs

Open to

Supervisors

Contact

News and features

New insights into methamphetamine-related deaths in Australia

Exploring drug use in older adults: APSAD 2024

Featured publications

Injection Drug Use Frequency Before and After Take-Home Naloxone Training

The impacts of COVID‐19 measures on drug markets and drug use among a cohort of people who use methamphetamine in Victoria, Australia

Prevalence and Correlates of Panic Attacks Among People Who Primarily Smoke Methamphetamine

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

Interventions to support parents who use methamphetamine: A narrative systematic review

Health Service Use for Mental Health Reasons in a Cohort of People Who Use Methamphetamine Experiencing Moderate to Severe Anxiety or Depression

Level and correlates of social support in a community‐based sample of Australians who primarily smoke methamphetamine

Qualitative understandings of access to primary care services for consumers who use methamphetamine

Correlates of anxiety and depression in a community cohort of people who smoke methamphetamine

A prospective cohort of people who use methamphetamine in Melbourne and non‐metropolitan Victoria, Australia: Baseline characteristics and correlates of methamphetamine dependence

Parent and child co‐resident status among an Australian community‐based sample of methamphetamine smokers

Partners

Funding partners

Collaborators

Project contacts

Main contacts

Professor Paul Dietze

Program Director, Disease Elimination; Professor and Program Leader, National Drug Research Institute (NDRI)

Student supervisor contacts

Dr Rachel Sacks-Davis

Senior Research Fellow

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

Dr Michael Curtis

Postdoctoral Research Officer

Dr Anna Wilkinson

Senior Research Fellow

Associate Professor Peter Higgs

Principal Research Fellow; Honorary Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, La Trobe University

Dr Rebecca Winter

Deputy Head, Justice Health

Dr Shelley Walker

Adjunct Research Fellow

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