Methamphetamine use in Melbourne and rural Victoria: the VMAX cohort study
The VMAX cohort study follows more than 850 people who use methamphetamine recruited from metropolitan Melbourne and 3 regions of rural Victoria.
Methamphetamine use is a significant public health issue in Australia. It’s associated with a range of harms that increased significantly in line with:
- major changes to the methamphetamine market
- changes in the behaviour of people who use the drug.
There a few prospective studies of methamphetamine use in Australia. In 2016, we established the VMAX cohort study to determine patterns of methamphetamine use and harm in metropolitan and rural Victoria.
People in the study complete follow-up surveys once a year. They also consent to us linking administrative data obtained from health and social services to our cohort study data.
VMAX is part of a broader study called MIXMAX. This combines VMAX with SuperMIX—a study collecting data on injecting drug use over time—to form the largest active cohort study of people who use drugs in Australia.
About the study
As at November 2020, our sample looked like the following:
- 77% were people who used methamphetamine via non-injecting means.
- 39% were female.
- Participants were recruited from Melbourne and three non-metropolitan Victorian regions.
For more information, read: A prospective cohort of people who use methamphetamine in Melbourne and non-metropolitan Victoria, Australia: Baseline characteristics and correlates of methamphetamine dependence
Our impact
VMAX data is used to determine the nature and extent of methamphetamine use and harm in Victoria. The data has been used to determine issues related to drug driving and service provision across Victoria.
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
Partners
Funding partners
- Colonial Foundation Trust
- National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Grant IDs: 1148170, 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)
Associate Professor Peter Higgs
Principal Research Fellow; Honorary Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, La Trobe University
Filip Djordjevic
Research Assistant
Zachary Lloyd
Research Assistant
Matthew Gill
PhD Student
Gulliver McLean
Research Assistant
Rebekka (Bek) Petrovic
Research Assistant
Bianca Whiteside
PhD candidate; Research Assistant
Joanna Wilson
Research Assistant
Dr Samantha Colledge-Frisby
Honorary Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dr Shelley Walker
Adjunct Research Fellow
Dr Michael Curtis
Postdoctoral Research Officer
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 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