FACTORS INFLUENCING THE HIV/HEPATITIS C RISK BEHAVIORS OF INJECTION DRUG USERS IN NEW BRUNSWICK

G Getty, M Dykeman
Faculty of Nursing, UNB, Fredericton, New Brunswick

Objectives: To identify and explore the factors that are related to HIV/Hepatitis risk behaviors among Injection Drug Users, including those related to early drug use, patterns of drug use and injecting behaviors, individual and social influences on drug use and the sociopolitical interpretation of drug-taking behaviors by Injection Drug Users themselves.
Methods: Individual unstructured interviews with a convenience sample of 30 IDUs from 5 different regions of New Brunswick were tape-recorded and transcribed. IDUs were contacted through a snowball technique, beginning with the Needle exchanges and Methadone programs. The data were thematically analyzed and coded using the NUD*IST software package.
Results: More than 95% of participants began using drugs with their friends. Experimentation usually began at 13-15 years of age, progressing to injection within the following two years. Learning this new skill was facilitated by their friends, initially being done by someone else. As their addiction increased, some participants continued to provide instrumental supports, such as collecting dirty needles left about and replacing them with clean ones. Fear of being disclosed as a drug user prevented many of their friends from going to needle exchanges, or to the ASOs, especially when they were living in half-way houses or shelters. Immersion in drug using social networks was a barrier to accessing treatment programs. More than 90% of the participants were injecting Dilaudid and 50% of these expressed a desire for access to a Methadone program, none of which have been funded by the NB government to date.
Conclusions: Harm reduction programs need to begin prior to adolescence and to recognize the social nature of drug use by providing social supports, rather than focusing exclusively on the individual.

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