ALAMA-nightlife survey:designing a survey to explore drug use trajectories in the European nightlife scene

While patterns of drug use vary between European countries, there have been recent developments in the drugs market that are likely to be felt by young adults engaging with the nightlife scene across Europe. To gain insights into drug use and nightlife participation and to understand how their patterns change over time among young adults, research institutions participating in the ALAMA-Nightlife project designed and implemented an online longitudinal survey, the Electronic Music Scene Survey (EMSS). This study presents the methodological aspects of the EMSS and some of its initial findings, including the lessons learned from this project and its potential implications. Over 8 000 young adults living in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom were recruited to the EMSS’s baseline survey, with a 36 % retention rate at the 12-month follow-up stage. The importance of involving focus groups to ensure the relevance and acceptability of the survey content to the target population is one of the findings of this study. In addition, employing both an online and an offline method to recruit participants can help to determine whether the online sample is representative of the target population, in this case young adults attending clubs and festivals.