SOCIAL NETWORK TIES, SELF-EFFICACY, AND CONDOM USE AMONG WOMEN WHO USE CRACK COCAINE - A PILOT-STUDY

So far, attempts to change the sexual risk behavior of women who use c rack cocaine have been less successful than efforts to change the need le risk behavior of injection drug users. Two theoretical areas that h ave shown some success in predicting behavior change among of out-of-t reatment drug users are Bandura's social cognitive theory (self-effica cy theory) and social network theory. According to Bandura, social net works are important sources of social support, and social support is v ital to self-efficacy. Social network research also indicates that clo se bonds with network members may be a protective factor independently of self-efficacy. In order to test the feasibility of collecting such data, a pilot study was conducted with 60 women who used crack cocain e and who were not in treatment. Results of Pearson product-moment cor relations indicated that self-efficacy (.7230) and number of very stro ng ties (.31252994) were positively correlated with condom use for wom en in the sample. In addition, the number of very strong ties (.3142) was significantly, if modestly, correlated with self-efficacy. Self-ef ficacy was also associated with behavioral performance in multivariate regression analysis, whose number of very strong ties had a moderate, though not significant, effect on self-efficacy. The author recommend s that social network assessment be adopted in larger studies as a par t of HIV risk assessment.