HIV and HCV Prevention Research Team, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Subst Use Misuse. 2021;56(1):1-10. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2020.1823416. Epub 2020 Oct 21.
A community-based research project, sought to provide evidence to respond to the community-identified need to more fully understand the parameters of the social and risk profiles of youth in Ottawa who smoked crack. In this article we examine engagement in HIV and HCV risk-related smoking practices, and experiences accessing safer inhalation supplies with the objective of identifying potential intervention points and associated harm reduction interventions to initiate and support safer inhalation practices. The study comprised four sequential components - formation and facilitation of a Youth Project team, qualitative interviews, and member checking workshops - each component building on the preceding and all contributing to the final and fourth component of the interviewer-administered quantitative survey from which data for this article are drawn. Eligibility criteria: capable of informed consent; aged between 16 and 25 years; had ever injected drugs had ever tried crack had used two or more hard drugs in the three months preceding their interview. Recruitment cards distributed by community agencies, honoraria and debriefing offered. Separate consent obtained for collection of finger prick blood samples for HIV and HCV laboratory testing. 125 young people completed personal interviews in November 2013. This article is restricted to those 97 participants who had smoked crack. High rates of engagement in documented HIV- and HCV-related crack smoking practices were reported including nonuse of mouthpieces, use of non-recommended smoking devices and frequent engagement in equipment sharing; engagement compounded by the heightened confirmed prevalence of HCV. The youth in our study explained the utility of crack in their lives. Given the mental health drivers of engagement, ease of accessibility and availability, engagement in smoking crack is clearly likely to continue, firmly indicating the urgent necessity to ensure its safer use through gender neutral, youth-specific enhanced programming and resource distribution.
一项基于社区的研究项目旨在提供证据，以满足社区确定的需求，即更全面地了解渥太华吸食 crack 的年轻人的社会和风险特征。在本文中，我们研究了与 HIV 和 HCV 风险相关的吸烟行为的参与情况，以及获得更安全的吸入用品的经验，目的是确定潜在的干预点和相关的减少伤害干预措施，以启动和支持更安全的吸入行为。该研究包括四个连续的组成部分——青年项目团队的组建和促进、定性访谈以及成员核查研讨会——每个组成部分都建立在前一个组成部分的基础上，所有组成部分都为最终的第四部分做出了贡献，即访谈者进行的定量调查，本文的数据就是从中提取的。入选标准：有能力做出知情同意；年龄在 16 至 25 岁之间；曾经注射过毒品；曾经尝试过 crack；在接受访谈前的三个月内使用过两种或两种以上的硬性毒品。社区机构分发招募卡，提供酬金和情况介绍。另外获得单独同意，采集指尖血样进行 HIV 和 HCV 实验室检测。125 名年轻人于 2013 年 11 月完成了个人访谈。本文仅限于那些曾吸食过 crack 的 97 名参与者。报告了高比例的与 HIV 和 HCV 相关的 crack 吸烟行为，包括不使用吸嘴、使用不推荐的吸烟器具和频繁的设备共享；由于 HCV 的确诊率较高，情况更加复杂。我们研究中的年轻人解释了 crack 在他们生活中的作用。考虑到参与的心理健康驱动因素、易于获得和可用性，吸食 crack 的行为显然很可能继续下去，这清楚地表明迫切需要通过性别中立、针对年轻人的强化方案和资源分配，确保其更安全的使用。
