The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #61637

Lena M. Lundgren, PhD, Deborah Chassler, MSW, Therese Fitzgerald, MSW, Faith Ferguson, PhD, and Susan Peloquin, BA. School of Social Work, Boston University, 264 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215, 617-353-1634, llundgre@bu.edu

The presentation provides results from a three year state-wide effort to examine the relationship between types of drug treatment used by African-American, Latino/a and white non-Hispanic injection drug users (IDUs) and their level of drug use and HIV risk behaviors. Data presented were obtained using quantitative and qualitative research methods. First, the study merged data from in-person interviews with 700 IDUs, including level of drug use, needle sharing and other HIV risk behaviors, with a state level MIS data base which contains information on entry to all licensed drug treatment programs. Hierarchical linear modeling and logistic regression methods were used to explore within and between program effects. Initial findings reveal that those IDUs who over a six year time period (1996-2001) used detoxification as the only treatment method had significantly (p .05) higher levels of multi-drug drug use, were more likely to be African-American or Latino, more likely to share needles and reported lower levels of psychiatric symptoms. Second, semi-structured in-person interviews with 40 African-American IDUs, suggest that for this population having a history of using health services promotes their entry to drug treatment services beyond detoxification, including residential treatment and methadone maintenance.

Learning Objectives:

Be able to:
• Identify drug treatment patterns of described populations.
• List factors associated with likelihood of using more effective drug treatment.
• Describe research model which promotes more effective use of drug treatment by IDUs in order to reduce drug use and prevent the spread of HIV through injection drug use.

Keywords: Drug Abuse Treatment, HIV Risk Behavior

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.