Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Department of Pharmacy Practice & Science, University of Kentucky, Institute for Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
J Rural Health. 2022 Jan;38(1):93-99. doi: 10.1111/jrh.12564. Epub 2021 Mar 5.
Rural areas of the United States have experienced outbreaks of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections among people who use drugs (PWUD). Pharmacy-based interventions may play a crucial role in prevention and entry into care, especially when traditional health care access is limited. The willingness of rural PWUD to use pharmacies for HIV/HCV-related services remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to describe the factors associated with the perceived likelihood of participating in free pharmacy-based HIV and HCV testing among PWUD living in rural Kentucky.
Baseline data from the CARE2HOPE study in five Appalachian counties in eastern Kentucky were used. Participants were recruited using respondent-driven sampling and completed interviewer-administered surveys. Guided by the Andersen and Newman Framework of Health Services Utilization, we examined distributions and correlates of items regarding willingness to participate in free pharmacy-based HIV/HCV testing using logistic regression. Analyses included individuals who reported being HIV (N = 304) or HCV (N = 185) negative.
Seventy-five percent of PWUD reported being "very likely" to participate in free pharmacy-based HIV testing and 80% for HCV testing. Two factors were associated with being less willing to participate in free HIV testing: PWUD who previously tested for HIV (OR: 0.47, CI: 0.25-0.88) and PWUD who obtained a high school diploma or equivalent compared to those who completed less (OR: 0.50, CI: 0.26-0.99).
Free pharmacy-based HIV and HCV testing was invariably acceptable among most of the rural PWUD in our sample, suggesting that pharmacies might be acceptable testing venues for this population.
美国农村地区的吸毒者（PWUD）中出现了人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）和丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染的爆发。基于药房的干预措施可能在预防和护理方面发挥关键作用，尤其是在传统的医疗保健获取受到限制时。农村 PWUD 使用药房进行 HIV/HCV 相关服务的意愿尚不清楚。本研究的目的是描述肯塔基州农村地区 PWUD 对参与免费药房 HIV 和 HCV 检测的可能性相关因素。
本研究使用了肯塔基州东阿巴拉契亚五县 CARE2HOPE 研究的基线数据。参与者通过回应驱动抽样招募，并完成了访员管理的调查。根据安德森和纽曼健康服务利用框架，我们使用逻辑回归检查了有关参与免费药房 HIV/HCV 检测意愿的项目分布和相关性。分析包括报告 HIV（N = 304）或 HCV（N = 185）阴性的个体。
75%的 PWUD 表示非常愿意参加免费的药房 HIV 检测，80%的人表示愿意参加 HCV 检测。有两个因素与不愿意参加免费 HIV 检测有关：之前接受过 HIV 检测的 PWUD（OR：0.47，CI：0.25-0.88）和与完成高中文凭或同等学历相比，完成较少学业的 PWUD（OR：0.50，CI：0.26-0.99）。
在我们的样本中，大多数农村 PWUD 对免费的药房 HIV 和 HCV 检测普遍表示接受，这表明药房可能是该人群可接受的检测场所。
