Most research on the benefits of syringe exchange programs (SEPs) has focused on assessing program effectiveness and identifying risk profiles of SEP customers. To our knowledge, no empirical studies have considered the psychosocial characteristics of IDUs who do and do not use SEPs. To determine whether IDUs who do and do not use SEPs differ along demographic, psychosocial, and HIV risk characteristics and behaviors, we analyzed data from a three-city (Chicago, IL; Hartford, CT; Oakland, CA) observational study of how HIV prevention messages and supplies diffuse from SEPs. The study sample consisted of 350 participants with no reported history of HIV, hepatitis B or C virus infection. Self-efficacy was the only psychosocial factor to differentiate SEP customers from all non-customers groups; injecting others and pre-injection cleaning of the injection site differentiated some non-customers from customers. Implications for future interventions are discussed.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank the National Institute on Drug Abuse for funding the “Diffusion of Benefit through Syringe Exchange” project. The project was part of the Yale Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA), which was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (PO1-MH56826). The authors also thank the field staff of the project who recruited the individuals into the cohort and obtained their cooperation in completing the interview: Teri Strenski, Jessica Gacki-Smith, Clifton Sanchez and Ruben Gerena in Chicago; Janie Simmons, Kim Koester, Ismael Nuñez, Rachel Sayko and Susan Fabian in Hartford; Askia Muhammad, Sybil Marcus, Jon Paul Hammond, Jennifer Awa, Daryl Gault, Donny Gann, Jeffrey Moore, Rachel Robinson and Robert Thawley in Oakland. The authors are also grateful for the valuable input from Marilyn Stolar concerning data analytic issues, particularly those concerning regression analyses. The project is indebted to the syringe exchanges of the Chicago Recovery Alliance, AIDS Project Hartford, and the Alameda County Exchange which agreed to participate and refer their syringe exchange customers
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Grau, L.E., Bluthenthal, R.N., Marshall, P. et al. Psychosocial and Behavioral Differences Among Drug Injectors who Use and do not Use Syringe Exchange Programs. AIDS Behav 9, 495–504 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-005-9020-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-005-9020-3