SUBJECT

Title

Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Addiction Research: Population Studies on Addictions and in Health Research

Code

DPSY16-ADD-103:3

Type of instruction

practice

Level

Doctoral

Faculty

Faculty of Education and Psychology

Part of degree program

Doctoral School of Psychology

Credits

Recommended in

Semester 1-4

Typically offered in

Autumn/Spring semester

Course description

Purpose of the course is to review theoretical foundations, methods and results of national and international (representative) population studies on health behavior. During the course characteristics of sampling, weighting, coding and data analysis processes, their difficulties, barriers and possible biases will be analyzed. Besides the adult population surveys, studies targeting school-aged children (e.g. Health Behaviour in School-aged Children, ESPAD) and substance use of special populations (e.g. inmates, children living in foster institutions) will be highlighted. In addition to the prevalence of health behaviors, knowledge on the effects of the psychosocial setting will also be reviewed. Moreover, we analyze the domestic and international trends of adverse health behaviors and the possible reasons behind them. Along cross-sectional studies results of studies presenting longitudinal data will also be examined and in this context the issue of primary prevention (universal, selective and indicated prevention) will also be discussed.

Readings

Currie, C., Giebler, R., Inchley, J., Theunissen, A., Molcho, M., Samdal, O. & Dür, W. (eds.) (2010). Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Study Protocol: Background, Methodology and Mandatory Items for 2009/10 Survey. Edinburgh: CAHRU c VIenna: LBIHPR. http://www.hbsc.org