Technical notes

Terminology

Agency

Agencies included in the AODTS NMDS are all publicly-funded (at state, territory or Australian Government level) government and non-government agencies that provide one or more specialist alcohol and other drug treatment services, whether residential or non-residential. Also included are acute care hospitals or psychiatric hospitals if they have specialist alcohol and other drug units that provide treatment to non-admitted patients (for example, outpatient services) and Indigenous or mental health services if they provide specialist alcohol and other drug treatment.

Client

An individual who is assessed and/or accepted for treatment for their own or another person's alcohol or other drug problem from an in-scope agency and who is aged 10 or older at the start of the treatment episode.

Closed treatment episode

A treatment episode is the period of contact between a client and a treatment provider where there are defined start (commencement) and

end (cessation) dates. A treatment episode is considered closed where any of the following occurs: treatment is completed or has ceased; there has been no contact between the client and treatment provider for 3 months; or there is a change in the main treatment type, principal drug of concern or delivery setting.

Treatment episodes are excluded from the AODTS NMDS if they: are not closed in the relevant financial year; are for clients who are receiving pharmacotherapy and not receiving any other form of treatment that falls within the scope of the collection; include only activities relating to needle and syringe exchange; or are for a client aged under 10 years.

Main treatment type

Treatment type refers to the type of activity used to treat the client’s alcohol or other drug problem. Main treatment type is the principal activity that is determined at assessment by the treatment provider to be necessary for the completion of the treatment plan for the client’s alcohol or other drug problem for their principal drug of concern. One main treatment type is reported for each treatment episode.

Assessment only, support and case management only, and information and education only can only be reported as main treatment types. The AODTS NMDS also collects data on a client's other treatment types; however this variable is not included in these data visualisations.

Principal drug of concern

Principal drug of concern is the main substance that the client stated led them to seek treatment from the AOD treatment agency. In this report, only clients seeking treatment for their own substance use are included in analyses of principal drug of concern. It is assumed that only substance users themselves can accurately report principal drug of concern; therefore, these data are not collected from those who seek support for someone else’s drug use. The AODTS NMDS also collects data on a client's additional drugs of concern; however, this variable is not included in these data visualisations.

Source of referral

The source from which the client was transferred or referred to alcohol and other drug treatment service.

Treatment delivery setting

The main physical setting in which the type of treatment that is the principal focus of a client's alcohol and other drug treatment episode is actually delivered to a client (irrespective of whether or not this is the same as the usual location of the service provider).

Technical notes

Agencies page:

  1. Remoteness is calculated using a ratio correspondence of the treatment agency's Statistical area level 2 (SA2) and only exists from the 2012-13 collection onwards.
  2. The sum of agencies by remoteness may not sum to the total number of agencies, as some treatment agencies are distributed among more than one remoteness area.
  3. The number of agencies is not an accurate reflection on all in-scope AOD specialist treatment services in Australia, as some agencies fail to report data during a collection for various reasons. See the Alcohol and other drug treatment services NMDS, 2015–16 data quality statement for details.

Client demographics page:

  1. Client data only exists from the 2013-14 collection onwards.
  2. The client data used in these visualisations is not imputed for collection years 2013-14 and 2015-16. Therefore, these numbers may differ from what has been previously published.
  3. Rates are crude rates based on the Australian estimated resident population as at 31 December of the reference year.
  4. Proportions are  calculated based on overlapping unit record data sorted by state/territory. As clients can receive treatment in multiple states/territories within the same collection period, the number of clients for Australia is less than the summed number of clients for each state/territory. Therefore, the proportions by each state/territory may differ from those reported elsewhere as they are calculated from the summed number of clients for each state/territory.

Cultural and linguistic diversity page:

  1. Rates are crude rates based on the Australian estimated resident population at 31 December of the reference year.

Principal drug of concern page:

  1. The most common principal drugs of concern are based on the number of closed treatment episodes for the reference year.

Alcohol and other drug treatment page:

  1. Principal drug of concern is not collected for clients seeking treatment for another's alcohol and other drug use.
  2. Rehabilitation, withdrawal management (detoxification), and pharmacotherapy are not available for clients seeking treatment for another’s alcohol or other drug use.

General notes:

  1. Data are subject to minor revisions over time.
  2. Components of tables may not sum to totals due to rounding.
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