Tw. Valente et D. Vlahov, Selective risk taking among needle exchange participants: Implications forsupplemental interventions, AM J PUB HE, 91(3), 2001, pp. 406-411
Citations number
34
Categorie Soggetti
Public Health & Health Care Science","Envirnomentale Medicine & Public Health","Medical Research General Topics
Objectives. This study characterized social network context of HIV risk beh
avior among injection drug users who participated in a needle exchange prog
ram.
Methods. Interviews were conducted with 1184 injection drug users at the Ba
ltimore Needle Exchange Program enrolled in an evaluation cohort. Analysis
consisted of multiple logistic regression with statistical adjustment for t
he interdependence of observations.
Results. Of the 203 (17.1 %) injection drug users who reported using a syri
nge after someone else, 78.3% reported sharing with close friends, and the
adjusted odds ratio of any sharing and sharing with close friends was 30.9.
Injection drug users were more likely to report sharing with a strong-tie
close friend (adjusted odds ratio=1.52) and less likely to report sharing w
ith other close friends if those friends were weak ties and new to their ne
twork, Friendship ties were not stable, with fewer than 30% of the friends
being repeat nominations.
Conclusions. These data show that many injection drug users engage in selec
tive risk taking that may minimize their disease risk exposure in the short
term. The turnover in networks, however, suggests that programs need to em
phasize the importance of exclusive use.