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Depression Among People Who Inject Drugs and Their Intimate Partners in Kazakhstan

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Abstract

This paper examines individual, social, and structural factors associated with depression among 728 people who inject drugs (PWID) and their intimate partners in Kazakhstan, with separate multivariate models by gender. Depression scores were higher on average among participants of both genders who recently experienced sexual intimate partner violence, food insecurity, and who had lower levels of self-rated health. Among females, higher depression scores were associated with experiencing childhood sexual abuse, lower levels of social support, and not having children. Findings highlight a need to incorporate gender differences and factors associated with depression in designing mental health services for PWID in Kazakhstan.

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Acknowledgments

The study was funded to Dr. El-Bassel by the National Institute of Drug Abuse Grant # R01 DA022914-01A2. We would like to acknowledge the study participants who shared of their time and their experiences with Project Renaissance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Global Health Research Center of Central Asia, Columbia University School of Social Work, 1255 Amsterdam Ave, 809, New York, NY, 10027, USA

    Stacey A. Shaw, Nabila El-Bassel, Louisa Gilbert, Tim Hunt & Mingway Chang

  2. Global Health Research Center of Central Asia, Almaty, 050040, Kazakhstan

    Assel Terlikbayeva, Sholpan Primbetova & Yelena Rozental

Authors
  1. Stacey A. Shaw
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  2. Nabila El-Bassel
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  3. Louisa Gilbert
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  4. Assel Terlikbayeva
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  5. Tim Hunt
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  6. Sholpan Primbetova
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  7. Yelena Rozental
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  8. Mingway Chang
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Correspondence to Stacey A. Shaw.

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Shaw, S.A., El-Bassel, N., Gilbert, L. et al. Depression Among People Who Inject Drugs and Their Intimate Partners in Kazakhstan. Community Ment Health J 52, 1047–1056 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-015-9883-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-015-9883-3

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