AIMS: To examine the self-reported personal wellbeing of a sample of Australian injecting drug users (IDU) using a standardized instrument and determine the key correlates of variations in self-reported personal wellbeing. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Cross-sectional survey of 881 Australian IDU. MEASUREMENTS: Self-reported personal wellbeing collected using the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI). FINDINGS: IDU scored significantly lower than the general Australian population on the PWI and all subscales. Lower PWI scores were associated with a range of socio-demographic, drug use and other health and social characteristics. Across all PWI subscales, lower personal wellbeing scores were associated with unemployment, past 6-month mental health problems and more frequent injecting (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The PWI is sufficiently sensitive to distinguish between IDU and the general population, and to identify key correlates of PWI among IDU. Some domains canvassed within the scale, such as health, standard of living and life achievements, are well within the scope of current intervention strategies, such as pharmacotherapy maintenance treatment and housing and employment support services. This suggests that the PWI could be useful in clinical settings by allowing structured identification of the areas of a person's life to be addressed as a part of a treatment regimen. In order to inform targeted prevention and intervention efforts, longitudinal studies of PWI and its correlates among IDU are required.
AIMS: To examine the self-reported personal wellbeing of a sample of Australian injecting drug users (IDU) using a standardized instrument and determine the key correlates of variations in self-reported personal wellbeing. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Cross-sectional survey of 881 Australian IDU. MEASUREMENTS: Self-reported personal wellbeing collected using the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI). FINDINGS: IDU scored significantly lower than the general Australian population on the PWI and all subscales. Lower PWI scores were associated with a range of socio-demographic, drug use and other health and social characteristics. Across all PWI subscales, lower personal wellbeing scores were associated with unemployment, past 6-month mental health problems and more frequent injecting (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The PWI is sufficiently sensitive to distinguish between IDU and the general population, and to identify key correlates of PWI among IDU. Some domains canvassed within the scale, such as health, standard of living and life achievements, are well within the scope of current intervention strategies, such as pharmacotherapy maintenance treatment and housing and employment support services. This suggests that the PWI could be useful in clinical settings by allowing structured identification of the areas of a person's life to be addressed as a part of a treatment regimen. In order to inform targeted prevention and intervention efforts, longitudinal studies of PWI and its correlates among IDU are required.
Authors: Maryam Alavi; Jason Grebely; Gail V Matthews; Kathy Petoumenos; Barbara Yeung; Carolyn Day; Andrew R Lloyd; Ingrid Van Beek; John M Kaldor; Margaret Hellard; Gregory J Dore; Paul S Haber Journal: J Gastroenterol Hepatol Date: 2012-05 Impact factor: 4.029
Authors: Joseph S Doyle; Jason Grebely; Tim Spelman; Maryam Alavi; Gail V Matthews; Alexander J Thompson; Gregory J Dore; Margaret E Hellard Journal: PLoS One Date: 2016-06-29 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Danielle Horyniak; Peter Higgs; Rebecca Jenkinson; Louisa Degenhardt; Mark Stoové; Thomas Kerr; Matthew Hickman; Campbell Aitken; Paul Dietze Journal: Harm Reduct J Date: 2013-06-21