NCJ Number
216471
Journal
Drug and Alcohol Review Volume: 25 Issue: 5 Dated: September 2006 Pages: 439-444
Date Published
September 2006
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study compared the demographic and drug use profiles of non-needle and syringe program (NSP) attendees with NSP attendees from the same high drug-using geographic area in Sydney, New South Wales.
Abstract
Results indicated that the non-NSP attendees were less likely to report severe drug problems, had lower rates of health services use, and were more likely to report lower prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C infection in comparison to NSP attendees. Approximately 20 percent of non-NSP attendees reported reusing needles and syringes after someone else during the past month. NSP attendees, however, were more likely to report higher levels of injecting risk. The findings suggest a need to promote access to NSP and other harm reduction services for non-NSP attendees. The study relied on two data sources: (1) an annual national survey of injecting drug users (IDU) conducted during 2003 at NSP locations (NPS survey); and (2) a survey of IDU who did not use NSP as their primary source of injecting equipment (Access survey). Both surveys were administered in the same high drug-using geographic area in Sydney and participants were recruited through a variety of methods including snowball sampling, flyers in public places, and advertisements in local pharmacies and magazines. A total of 264 individuals participated: 102 who had never attended a NSP (non-NSP attendees) and 162 who had previous experience with NSP (NSP attendees). Data analysis was performed in SPSS for Windows and included chi-square tests and Student’s t-tests. Tables, references