The grief experienced by the brothers and sisters of people who die from any form of drug-caused death is the focus of Charles Sturt University (CSU) research.

Ms Julie Perrin, a PhD social work student at the CSU School of Humanities and Social Sciences, wants to interview people aged over 18 who have had a brother or sister die due to a drug-related cause no longer than five years ago.

"This is an unexplored and difficult topic to research, but a very worthwhile one," Ms Perrin said. "It will inform social work practices in bereavement, drug and alcohol counselling, and working with families."

Ms Perrin said there are over 1 000 drug-induced deaths in Australia each year.

"As most of the people who die will have a brother or sister, there are at least 1 000 siblings who experience loss and grief every year. It is these siblings I want to talk to because what they experience is unknown, and I suspect unacknowledged," she said.

"I have thought about this a lot, because I am finding it difficult to recruit people to my study.

"When a brother or sister dies, the common messages given to siblings are along the line of 'look after your parents'. In a way, this means that the sibling's grief is less acknowledged by others, and possibly by themselves as well.

"When this idea is combined with how harshly drug-induced death is judged in our society, there is a perfect recipe for even less acknowledgement of the sibling's bereavement experience.

"I want to clearly hear the voices of bereaved siblings, their experiences of living with a brother or sister who engages in drug use, and their experiences of having a brother or sister die as a consequence of that drug use."

In this study, the term 'drugs' includes psychoactive substances that depress, stimulate or cause hallucinations, including alcohol, and a 'drug-related death' means a death that occurs through the use of illicit and/or licit drugs, and/or combinations of drugs.

The research project has CSU ethics approval to ensure participant confidentiality and privacy. Ms Perrin will conduct confidential semi-structured open-ended interviews of between one to two hours duration with 20 to 30 participants.Contact Ms Perrin by text or phone on 0402 262 168, or email Julie@karunacentre.com.au