FAQ - National Alcohol and Drugs Harm to Others Survey Frequently Asked Quesitons

Participation in the study involves answering questions about your attitudes, opinions and experiences with health-related issues such as injuries, violence or crimes like vandalism, and some background questions such as your age and marital status. We also are interested in your experiences with other people's drinking, smoking, and use of drugs, even if you do not drink alcohol or use tobacco or drugs.

This study is being conducted by the Public Health Institute, or PHI, which is a socially conscious nonprofit organization specializing in health research and policy action. PHI is dedicated to promoting health, well-being and quality of life for people in communities across the country and around the world. Their headquarters are in Oakland, California, just outside San Francisco. Their website is https://www.phi.org/

We are collecting data for scientific purposes only. This survey is used to update statistics about alcohol- and drug-related behaviors in communities across the country. The results are used to guide local health policy and other programs to reduce problems caused by alcohol and drug use.

We randomly selected addresses from a list of all mailing addresses in the United States. This helps make sure our sample can reach everyone in the population. Keep in mind that the aggregated survey results shared with the public can never be traced back to you.

You can verify the legitimacy of the study and learn more about it at https://adhto.arg.org

For technical assistance, please contact our Help Desk Support@ADHTOsurvey.com

Project related information also can be obtained from the study directors at the Public Health Institute or PHI (William C. Kerr, PhD, at 510-898-5800) and RTI International (Katherine J. Karriker-Jaffe, PhD, at 919-541-6291). The study directors also can be reached by email at ADHTOsurvey@arg.org

Information about confidentiality and protection of human subjects can be obtained from the Institutional Review Board at the Public Health Institute. For this information, please place a collect call to Robert McLaughlin (1-510-285-5500) between 9am and 5pm Pacific time. He also can be reached by email at Robert.McLaughlin@phi.org

The survey is about your health experiences. We need to talk to people who don't know much about their health and people who know a lot about it. We also need to include people who don't drink alcohol or use drugs to make sure our results represent everyone. Many people find surveys like this to be interesting.

This study will be used to help improve health and prevent alcohol- and drug-related problems.

Participating is one way for you to be represented at the local, state and national level. The information is used for planning purposes to develop more effective programs to support physical and mental health.

The more people who participate, the more accurate the results will be. If you don't participate, it leaves a "hole" in the data, and we may miss the opinions and experiences of people like you.

We select one adult from your household to respond to the survey.

We take many steps to ensure all information you provide is kept confidential and private.

Your answers will be grouped with the answers from everyone else who participates, and your specific responses will not be identifiable and cannot be linked back to you.

Your information will not be shared with anyone outside of study personnel without your permission. All study personnel are trained on participant privacy and data protection procedures.

Yes, survey respondents will receive a $20 Amazon gift code for completing the survey.

The online questionnaire will take about 30 minutes to fill out, with most people finishing in 20-40 minutes. If needed, you can start the survey now and finish it at another time that is convenient for you.

We want to make sure that our study participants and results are representative of all of the people who live in our communities across the USA.

You can choose whether or not you want to be in this study. If you volunteer to be in this study, you may exit the questionnaire at any time without any consequences to you. If you decide to withdraw from the study after completing the web questionnaire, we will accommodate requests extending to any identifiable information that you previously provided that we can feasibly exclude from the study records.

The certificate of confidentiality provides protection against disclosure of information that may identify you. It allows researchers to legally refuse to reveal anyone's identifying information

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Data Archive is a large database where de-identified data from many studies funded by NIAAA are stored and managed. No personal information is shared with the data archive. De-identified study data means that all personal information about you (such as your name and contact information) is removed and replaced with a code number. Sharing your de-identified study data helps researchers learn new and important things about alcohol problems more quickly than before. To learn more about this data archive, please visit https://niaaa.nih.gov/research/niaaa-data-archive

Resources for study participants:

1) Mental health and alcohol- and drug-related issues hotline

If you or someone you know would like to talk about mental health, an alcohol- or drug-related issue, or to find out about treatment programs in your area, you can call 1-800-662-HELP (1-800-662-4357).

2) Sexual violence hotline

If you or someone you know would like to talk to a trained counselor about sexual violence, please call 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

3) Child abuse hotline

To speak to a trained counselor about child abuse, please call 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453).

4) Domestic violence hotline

To speak to a trained counselor about domestic violence, please call 1-800-799-SAFE (1-800-799-7233).