social relationships and harm reduction practice among injection drug users in nova scotia joanne...
TRANSCRIPT
Social Relationships and Harm Reduction Practice
among Injection Drug Users in Nova Scotia
Joanne ParkerCPHA 2008 Annual
ConferenceHalifax, NS
June 1-4, 2008
Injection Drug Users in Communities Across Atlantic
Canada (ICAC)
• CIHR-funded, 3 year project• Atlantic Advisory Committee
•Social relationships
•Safer and unsafe practices
•Urban and rural Atlantic Canada
The ICAC Research Team(IDUs in Communities across Atlantic Canada)
Investigators:
Lois Jackson, Dalhousie University (Principal Investigator)
Margaret Dykeman, UNBJacqueline Gahagan, Dalhousie
UniversityJeff Karabanow, Dalhousie University
Collaborators:
Mainline Needle ExchangeSharp Advice Needle Exchange
AIDS Committee of Newfoundland and Labrador
AIDS Saint JohnAIDS New BrunswickSIDA/AIDS Moncton
AIDS PEI
Ethics and Limitations
• Confidentiality• Limited sample
Data Collection: Nova Scotia
In partnership with:
• Mainline (Halifax and mainland NS)
• Sharp Advice Needle Exchange (Cape Breton)
Participants
• 38 interviews in rural and urban NS
• 12 in Halifax, 7 in Sydney, 19 in smaller communities
• 23 male; 15 female
• Age 18-59
• Length of time injecting – broad range
Participants
* ”Some High School” includes 2 current students
** Post-secondary = university or trade school
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Grade 6 Grade 9 Some highschool
Completedhigh school
Some post-secondary
Completedpost-
secondary
Highest Level of Education Completed
Participants
* Social Assistance includes Income Support, Disability, Pension and Worker’s Compensation
* Informal economy includes panhandling, stealing, sex trade work, selling drugs
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
SocialAssistance
InformalEconomy
Family/partnersupport
None
Income Sources
Helpful Relationships
• Peer support
• Needle exchange
“I have other people that come to the house to use and get gear. So I like having clean gear all the time in the house, in case people do drop by”. [32- Male].
Interviewer: Do you have any non-IV-using friends?
Participant: “Yes, I’ve got people at the [needle exchange] that, you know, if I needed to talk to someone… they don’t judge you. They don’t do nothing to you. They are the only ones I’ve got anyways”. [41-Female]
Harmful/less safe relationships
• Reliance on other users
“You might share [paraphernalia] by doing a wash. You know, you’re hard up for dope. You are hard up to get something into you, and someone is not going to give you some, but they’ll let you play with their spoon where they cooked it up in”. [17- Male]
[What would happen if you insisted on using your own gear?]“You might not get hit… You take what you can get and you don’t be too picky. You are not going to insult someone, right? If they are giving you something, you are not going to be, you know…” [15- Female]
Harmful/less safe relationships
• Stigma and social exclusion
“I would never ever go to the Needle Exchange or nothing like that just in case people lurking, the way they look at you - you know, a needle user”. [30-Male]
Final thoughts…
Joanne ParkerResearch Coordinator
For more information visit: www.med.mun.ca/airn/pages/research.htm