British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St, Paul's Hospital, 608-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6, Canada.
Harm Reduct J. 2013 Mar 6;10:4. doi: 10.1186/1477-7517-10-4.
Unsafe injection practices play a major role in elevated rates of morbidity and mortality among people who inject drugs (IDU). There is growing interest in the direct involvement of IDU in interventions that seek to address unsafe injecting. This study describes a drug user-led safer injecting education campaign, and explores facilitators' experiences delivering educational workshops.
We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 8 members of the Injection Support (IS) Team who developed and facilitated a series of safer injecting education workshops. Interviews explored facilitator's perceptions of the workshops, experiences being a facilitator, and perspectives on the educational campaign. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and a thematic analysis was conducted.
IS Team facilitators described how the workshop's structure and content enabled effective communication of information about safer injecting practices, while targeting the unsafe practices of workshop participants. Facilitators' identity as IDU enhanced their ability to relate to workshop participants and communicate educational messages in language accessible to workshop participants. Facilitators reported gaining knowledge and skills from their involvement in the campaign, as well as positive feelings about themselves from the realization that they were helping people to protect their health. Overall, facilitators felt that this campaign provided IDU with valuable information, although facilitators also critiqued the campaign and suggested improvements for future efforts.
This study demonstrates the feasibility of involving IDU in educational initiatives targeting unsafe injecting. Findings illustrate how IDU involvement in prevention activities improves relevance and cultural appropriateness of interventions while providing individual, social, and professional benefits to those IDU delivering education.
不安全的注射操作是导致注射吸毒者（IDU）发病率和死亡率升高的主要原因。越来越多的人对 IDU 直接参与旨在解决不安全注射问题的干预措施产生了兴趣。本研究描述了一个由吸毒者主导的更安全的注射教育运动，并探讨了教育工作者在提供教育研讨会方面的经验。
我们对开发并主持了一系列更安全注射教育研讨会的 8 名注射支持（IS）团队成员进行了半结构化的定性访谈。访谈探讨了协调员对研讨会的看法、担任协调员的经验，以及对教育运动的看法。访谈内容逐字记录，并进行了主题分析。
IS 团队协调员描述了研讨会的结构和内容如何能够有效地传达有关更安全注射实践的信息，同时针对研讨会参与者的不安全做法。协调员作为 IDU 的身份增强了他们与研讨会参与者建立联系的能力，并以研讨会参与者能够理解的语言传达教育信息。协调员报告说，他们从参与运动中获得了知识和技能，并且通过意识到他们正在帮助人们保护自己的健康，他们对自己也有了积极的感觉。总的来说，协调员认为该运动为 IDU 提供了有价值的信息，尽管协调员也对该运动进行了批评，并为未来的努力提出了改进建议。
本研究证明了让 IDU 参与针对不安全注射的教育计划的可行性。研究结果表明，IDU 参与预防活动可以提高干预措施的相关性和文化适宜性，同时为提供教育的 IDU 提供个人、社会和专业方面的益处。
