91³ÉÈ˰涶Òô

This report was commissioned by the Alcohol and Drug Foundation (ADF) and presents information regarding:

1. Preferred sources and content of alcohol and other drug (AOD) related information among older adults; and
2. An overview of evaluated interventions aimed at reducing AOD harms among older adults (defined as ≥50 years).

The focus of this report was guided by findings from the first report created as part of this program of work: Trends in Substance Use and Related Harms Among Australians Aged 50 Years and Older 2001-2021. That is, analysis of drug-related hospitalisations, drug-induced deaths, treatment episodes and substance use among Australians aged ≥50 years identified alcohol, opioids and benzodiazepines as the substances that contribute to the greatest level of harm among this population. Thus, while all substances were within the scope of the current report, particular attention was given to these three substance classes.

Aim 1: Narrative Review: Searches were conducted in PubMed using a combination of keywords, with hand searching of reference lists of identified articles. Because this was a narrative review, there were no specific inclusion/exclusion criteria. Studies identified via the Rapid Review process (see below) that were deemed suitable for Aim 1 (e.g., qualitative reviews) were also included. These results were grouped thematically into ‘preferred sources of information’ and ‘preferred content of information’, the latter of which includes layout, quality and language.

Aim 2: Rapid Review: Ten-year searches for relevant reviews of any type (e.g., systematic, scoping, narrative, rapid) were conducted using PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Embase. This was followed by a supplementary search in PubMed for any evaluations undertaken within the last five years (to identify any recent primary studies that may not have been captured in the reviews). Searches used a combination of database-relevant terms (such as MeSH terms), keywords, and filters.

A lay summary of both reports commissioned by the ADF can be viewed here.

• Executive Summary
• Infographics
• Report