Facilitation into drug treatment or self-help among out-of-treatment IDUs in Portland: You can lead a horse to water, but...

Haiou He, Michael Stark, David Fleming, Jeanne Gould, Yolanda Russell-Alexander, Brian Weir

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study's purpose was to encourage out-of-treatment injection drug users (IDUs) to participate in drug treatment or self-help, and thereby reduce their injection drug use and HIV risk. In Portland, Oregon, IDUs were recruited for HIV counseling and testing and were randomly assigned to a standard intervention (SI) or one of two enhanced intervention (EI) groups. SI subjects received two sessions of counseling and testing only. In addition to counseling and testing, EI subjects received social support and incentives designed to facilitate their entrance into either drug treatment (DT) or self-help (SH). Compared to SI subjects, a higher proportion of DT subjects initiated drug treatment, and more SH subjects initiated self-help. There was, however, rapid dropout from DT and SH among EI participants, and no difference was found between SI and EI subjects in injecting at a 6-month follow-up. Subjects retained in DT or SH had reduced injection drug use, suggesting the need to determine factors that make DT and SH more intrinsically appealing.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)649-661
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of Drug Issues
Volume26
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1996
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Health(social science)
  • Medicine (miscellaneous)
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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