Facilitation Into Drug Treatment or Self-Help Among Out-of- Treatment IDUs in Portland: You Can Lead a Horse to Water, But...

• NCJ Number: 167116
• Journal: Journal of Drug Issues Volume: 26 Issue: 3 Dated: (Summer 1996) Pages: 649-661
• Author(s): H He; M Stark; D Fleming; J Gould; Y Russell-Alexander; B Weir
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 13 pages
• Grant Number(s): 1-UO1-DA-07302-02
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

This project encouraged out-of-treatment injection drug users (IDU's) in Portland, Oregon, to participate in drug treatment or self-help and thereby reduce their injection drug use and HIV risk.

Abstract

IDU's were recruited for HIV counseling and testing and were randomly assigned to a standard intervention (SI) or one of two enhanced intervention (EI) groups. Of the 738 IDU's, 68 percent were male and 36 percent were black. 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 or self-help. Compared to SI subjects, a higher proportion of EI subjects initiated drug treatment or self-help. A rapid dropout from drug treatment and self-help, however, was observed among EI participants. No difference was found between SI and EI subjects in injecting drug use at a 6-month follow-up. Subjects retained in drug treatment or self-help reduced injection drug use, suggesting the need to determine factors that make drug treatment and self-help more intrinsically appealing. 26 references, 1 note, and 5 tables