Evaluating a Dyadic Intervention on Risk Reduction Among People Who Inject Drugs

Abstract

Among 100 people who inject drugs enrolled in a peer mentorship intervention aiming to promote injection-related risk reduction behavior change, we evaluated the role of participation in a dyad session on reducing sharing of syringes and cookers in the past 6 months. Dyad participants (n = 69) invited an injection, sex partner, or family member to the study site to reinforce learnt behavior change tools by practicing communication skills and risk reduction lessons. In all, 31 participants did not participate in the dyad session. We descriptively assessed changes in sharing injection equipment between the 2 time points of pre- and postintervention using the tests of proportions by dyad participation. Multivariable logistic regression adjusted for sex was used with an interaction term (time points × dyad participation) to evaluate the dyad effect. Dyad participants reported reduced syringe and cooker sharing at postintervention (sharing syringe: 17% versus 39%, P < .05 and cooker: 32% versus 59%, P < .01). There was no difference between the dyad group’s sharing injection equipment behavior after the intervention (sharing syringes: adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.76; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.1-3.9 and cookers: aOR 0.72; 95% CI 0.1-3.5). The role of the dyad session alone on risk taking was not effective. With a small sample size, it is important to continue to evaluate the nature of peer-based dyadic experiences in future studies.

Human-centered design development of mHealth patient-to-peer referral tool in the emergency department

“…Injection drug use is often a social activity between two or more individuals, and dyadic interventions have been utilized previously to promote behavior change as it relates to HIV and HCV prevention. 25 Of approximately 50 previous study participants contacted by research coordinators, 4 agreed to attend the first focus group discussion and 3 agreed to bring one peer to the session. Attendants of the first session were encouraged to participate in the second and third sessions, with or without peers.…”

“He's under oath”: Privacy and Confidentiality Views Among People Who Inject Drugs Enrolled in a Study of Social Networks and Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Hepatitis C Virus Risk

“…In recent decades, social networks research has contributed to important gains in knowledge critical to programs designed to decrease the spread of infectious diseases (i.e., hepatitis C virus [HCV], human immunodeficiency virus [HIV], and other sexually transmitted diseases [STIs]) to chronic conditions (i.e., tobacco use and obesity) (Flath et al, 2018; Maddox et al, 2014; Morris, 2004; Rothenberg et al, 1998; Valente & Pitts, 2017; Valente et al, 2004; Williams et al, 2019; Wu et al, 2018). The relational data collected through social network analysis (Tubaro, 2014) are particularly important for epidemiological research, mapping how a virus or infectious diseases spread from one person to another within a particular group (Smith & Christakis, 2008).…”