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AIDS Prevention Outreach Among Injection Drug Users: Agency Problems and New Approaches

NCJ Number
150024
Journal
Social Problems Volume: 41 Issue: 3 Dated: (August 1994) Pages: 473-495
Author(s)
R S Broadhead; D D Heckathorn
Date Published
1994
Length
23 pages
Annotation
Original field research and agency theory form the basis of this analysis of the operations and internal aspects of community-based outreach projects to combat AIDS among out-of-treatment intravenous drug users.
Abstract
Data were gathered from several cities in which indigenous outreach workers identified, reached, and communicated with drug abusers and their associates about the risks of HIV and preventive measures. The analysis revealed that although these projects had a large number of organizational problems, they received a positive and vigorous response from drug users. These findings and recent developments in the theoretical understanding of collective action suggest new approaches to AIDS prevention that build on traditional outreach prevention efforts but rely more heavily on an active collaboration between drug abusers and service providers. These peer-driven interventions appear most promising when clear performance measures are available and any of the following three conditions are met: (1) individuals cannot be identified through public records but can by peers, (2) individuals rely on peer support rather than conventional ties, or (3) individual behavior is subject to peer control. These approaches might also be useful to reach other groups such as pregnant teenagers, parents whose children have not been immunized, runaway and homeless youth, and populations at high risk for hypertension. Figure and 76 references