Intervention from family members as a strategy for preventing HIV transmission among intravenous drug users
✍ Scribed by Barbara V. Marin; Gerardo Marin; Rolando A. Juarez; James L. Sorensen
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1992
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 591 KB
- Volume
- 20
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0090-4392
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
This exploratory study, undertaken to inform new prevention strategies, assessed the willingness of community members and drug users to advise drug-using relatives about various HIV prevention strategies. Participants were 421 adult community members and 67 adults in treatment for drug abuse in San Francisco, with approximately equal numbers of Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites in each group. Participants answered questions about whether they would advise an imagined relative who injects drugs about various strategies to prevent transmission of HIV, such as cleaning needles with bleach and condom use. Multivariate analyses revealed generally high willingness to provide AIDS prevention advice, with few differences between community members and those in drug treatment. The families of drug users are underutilized potential resources in AIDS education and prevention efforts.
AIDS prevention programs for drug users often use outreach workers to provide information, recruit drug users into treatment, and attempt to induce other behavior changes. Several authors (Friedman et al., 1987;Sorensen & Bernal, 1987) have suggested that family members also might be used to reach drug users. The family ties of drug abusers are substantial. In one study of admissions to a methadone maintenance program, 67% of addicts lived with family members, including 21% who lived with a parent (Cervantes, Sorensen, Wermuth, Fernandez, & Menicucci, 1988). Because they have ongoing relationships with drug users, famly members could provide repeated,