Extending drug ethno‐epidemiology using agent‐based modelling

Abstract

Agent-based modelling was used to integrate ethno-epidemiological data on psychostimulant use, and to test the probable impact of a specific intervention on the prevalence of drug-related harms. It also established a framework for collaboration between research disciplines that emphasizes the synthesis of diverse data types in order to generate new knowledge relevant to the reduction of drug-related harms.

Antiretroviral Therapy Interruption Among HIV Postive People Who Use Drugs in a Setting with a Community-Wide HIV Treatment-as-Prevention Initiative

“…A linkage with the province-wide ART dispensary provides a complete retrospective and prospective profile of exposure to treatment and adherence. Consistent with ethno-epidemiological methods [39, 40], we deployed qualitative methods alongside this epidemiological research program to explore individual, social, and structural influences on ART interruptions in a setting implementing TasP, and thus inform the refinement of this structural intervention. This study was approved by the Providence Healthcare/University of British Columbia Research Ethics Board.…”

The social impact in a high-risk community: A cellular automata model

“…Research in the area of network and cluster analysis has revealed variance in the drug using subtypes [24]. Other research has used ethnographic methods to establish what are the different stages of psycho-stimulant use [21]. In communities centred on the consumption of illicit drugs, high and low-risk behavioral drug consumption patterns can be spread because of tight social connections within these communities.…”

Qualitative social research in addictions publishing: Creating an enabling journal environment

“…There is increasing acceptance of post-positivism in quantitative research, as well as recognition of straight-forward realism in much applied qualitative research, and a growing respect for the need to reflect on how research questions and methods relate to epistemological assumptions. Collaborations between ethnography, epidemiology and mathematical modelling provide examples (Agar, 2003; Bourgois et al, 2006; Ciccarone & Bourgois, 2003; Moore et al, 2009). …”