NCJ Number
156003
Journal
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs Volume: 26 Issue: 4 Dated: (October-December 1994) Pages: 431-437
Date Published
1994
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article describes data from an ongoing 5-year research and demonstration grant that evaluated the efficacy of two intervention modes in a population of women at risk for HIV- infection, including women who are injection drug users (IDU's), non-IDU's, former drug users, sexual partners of IDU's, and women who exchange sex for money or drugs; data examined encompass the period before and after the 1992 Los Angeles riot.
Abstract
Using data from structured interviews, the psychosocial characteristics, drug abuse patterns, and distress levels among the women who were recruited for the project in the 6 months before and after the riot were examined. Although substance-abuse levels among participants did not increase or decrease as a function of the riot, there were a smaller number of social supports and marginally greater levels of already high psychological distress. Women in the community specifically mentioned a lack of social supports from counselors available in affected areas after the riot. An ethnographic analysis discusses the experience of the participants in the community during the same period of time. Problems in social supports are indicated. The results are discussed in terms of a general theory of service provision by increasing nontraditional social supports, especially immediately after a major cataclysm. 20 references