Changes in HIV Risk Behaviors among Counseled Injecting Drug Users

• Author: Maria J. Oziemkowska,Louis Reedt,David Vlahov,Carl A. Latkin,Wallace Mandell,Deborah Carran
• Date: 01 July 1994
• DOI: 10.1177/002204269402400314
• Published date: 01 July 1994
• Subject Matter: Article

The Journal of Drug Issues 24(3), 555-567 1994

CHANGES IN HIV RISK BEHAVIORS AMONG

COUNSELED INJECTING DRUG USERS

Wallace Mandell

David Vlahov

Carl

A.

Latkin

Deborah

Carran

Maria

J. Oziemkowska

Louis Reedt

A community sample

of

ninety-one HIV seronegative IDUs were randomly

assigned to either a one-hour, one-on-one, intensive educational

intervention or a fifteen-minute

"standard"

educational session. Risk

behaviors for the prior six months were assessed by interview before the

intervention and six months later. Self-reported injecting drug use

decreased from 100% to 70% at the six-month follow-up and the proportion

injecting daily dropped from 42% to 18%. The proportion who used

someone else's injection equipmentdropped from 65% to 34%. Nearly all

JDUs

who continued to inject reported using bleach to clean their

equipment. There was no significant additional benefit from the intensive

intervention. Variables hypothesized to mediate reduction in HIV risk

behavior (personal distress, perceived personal risk, and intention to

reduce risky behavior) were not associated with reduction

of

activities with

high-risk for HIV infection. These data suggest that individualized, short-

term educational interventions probably have limited impact on lowering

frequency

of

risky behaviors.

Introduction

Injecting drug users (IDUs) are the second largest group of persons at risk for

infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the United States. Of

the 179,136 cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) reported to the

Center for Disease Control between 1989-90, 23% were identified as due to

exposure to injectable drug use and an additional 5.3 %were exposed to drug-

injecting homosexual/bisexual males (Centers for Disease Control 1991). The use

Wallace Mandell, Ph.D.• is a professorin the

Department

of

MenIal

Hygiene,

School

of

Hygiene

and

Public

Health

at The Johns

Hopkins

University,

Baltimore.

Maryland.

David Vlahov, Ph.D.• is an

associate

professor in the

Department

of

Epidemiology,

School

of

Hygiene

and

Public

Health

at The Johns

Hopkins

University.

Carl A.

Latkln, Ph.D., is a

assistant

professorin the

Department

of

Psyc~ology

and a

research

associate

in the

Department

of

Mental

Hygiene,

Schoolof

Hygiene

and

Public

Health

at The Johns

Hopkins

University.

Deborah Carran,

Ph.D.• is an

assistant

professor in the

Division

of

Education.

School

of

Continuing

Study at The Johns

Hopkins

University.

Marla J. Ozlemkowska, M.S., is a senior staff researcher in the

Department

of

Mental

Hygiene

School

of

Hygiene

and

Public

Health at The Johns

Hopkins

University.

Louis Reedt. Ph.D., is chief of the

Division

of Program

Evaluation

and Survey

Research.

Maryland

AIDS

Administration,

Department

of Healthand

Mental

Hygiene.

Send reprint

requests

to Dr.

Wallace

Mandell,

Department

of

Mental

Hygiene,

Johns

Hopkins

School

of

Hygiene

and Public

Health,

624 North

Broadway.

Baltimore.

Md.

21205.

©Journal of Drug Issues, Inc. 002-0426/94/03/555-567 $1.00

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