Rebecca Hamilton White1, Allison O'Rourke2, Ricky N Bluthenthal3, Alex H Kral4, Michael E Kilkenny5, Tim D Hazelett5, Susan G Sherman1, Sean T Allen1. 1. Department of Health, Behavior, Society, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. 2. DC Center for AIDS Research, Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA. 3. Department of Preventive Medicine, Institute for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA. 4. Behavioral Health Research Division, RTI International, San Francisco, California, USA. 5. Cabell-Huntington Health Department, Huntington, West Virginia, USA.
Abstract
Background: While prior research has explored factors associated with people who inject drugs (PWID) initiating others into drug injection in urban settings, very little work has been done to understand this behavior among rural PWID in Appalachia. Objectives: We aim to identify factors associated with PWID initiating injection-naïve individuals into drug injection in a rural community in West Virginia (WV). Methods: Data were derived from a cross-sectional survey of 420 rural PWID (163 women) in Cabell County, WV in June-July 2018 who indicated recent (past 6 months) injection drug use. Individuals completed a survey that included measures on socio-demographics and injection socialization behaviors. We used logistic regression to identify factors associated with PWID recently initiating someone for their first injection. Results: A minority (17%) reported recently initiating someone for their first injection. In multivariable regression, recent injection initiation was independently associated with number of injections per day (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.16; 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.07,1.25), recent injection in front of an injection-naïve person (aOR 2.75; 95% CI: 1.25,6.04), recent describing how to inject drugs to an injection-naïve person (aOR 5.83; 95% CI: 2.71,12.57), and recent encouragement of an injection-naïve person to inject (aOR 7.13; 95% CI: 2.31,21.87). Conclusion: Injection initiation was independently associated with several injection socialization behaviors involving injection-naïve individuals. PWID who recently initiated injection-naïve individuals had higher odds of frequent injection. Educating rural PWID about how their behaviors can influence others and the importance of engaging in safe injection practices could carry significant public health utility.
Background: While prior research has explored factors associated with people who inject drugs (PWID) initiating others into drug injection in urban settings, very little work has been done to understand this behavior among rural PWID in Appalachia. Objectives: We aim to identify factors associated with PWID initiating injection-naïve individuals into drug injection in a rural community in West Virginia (WV). Methods: Data were derived from a cross-sectional survey of 420 rural PWID (163 women) in Cabell County, WV in June-July 2018 who indicated recent (past 6 months) injection drug use. Individuals completed a survey that included measures on socio-demographics and injection socialization behaviors. We used logistic regression to identify factors associated with PWID recently initiating someone for their first injection. Results: A minority (17%) reported recently initiating someone for their first injection. In multivariable regression, recent injection initiation was independently associated with number of injections per day (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.16; 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.07,1.25), recent injection in front of an injection-naïve person (aOR 2.75; 95% CI: 1.25,6.04), recent describing how to inject drugs to an injection-naïve person (aOR 5.83; 95% CI: 2.71,12.57), and recent encouragement of an injection-naïve person to inject (aOR 7.13; 95% CI: 2.31,21.87). Conclusion: Injection initiation was independently associated with several injection socialization behaviors involving injection-naïve individuals. PWID who recently initiated injection-naïve individuals had higher odds of frequent injection. Educating rural PWID about how their behaviors can influence others and the importance of engaging in safe injection practices could carry significant public health utility.
Entities:
Keywords:
Injection drug use; harm reduction; injection initiation; people who use drugs; rural health
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