BACKGROUND: Obtaining valid and reliable data on HIV risk resulting from stigmatized and hidden behaviors such as injection drug use requires innovative methods. Zimmerman and Wieder had introduced the concept of diary interview as an alternative to participant observation techniques in late 1970s. We have modified this technique to study factors involved in syringe access, use and discard among injection drug users.
METHODS: A large population of injectors in 3 cities in CT and MA was recruited through outreach and snowball sampling into a study correlating syringe access, use and discard with HIV risks. Five injectors in each city were asked to participate in diary interviews. Ethnographers met with each IDU and after an initial training session, received informed consent from the diarist who agreed to record all of his/her injection episodes in each 24-hour period for a total of seven days. After the first 24-hour period, ethnographers met with and interviewed the diarist, discussing the previous day's entries and probing for additional information. The interviews were repeated throughout the 7-day period.
CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary review of diary-interview data has highlighted some of the intricacies of injection practices and HIV risk and some crisis situations. These would have been absent from the data collected by structured interviews and would have likely been lost using data collection strategies requiring longer periods of recall. The data from diary interviews in combination with other quantitative and qualitative measures will permit us to more comprehensively and comprehensibly study HIV related risk and design prevention interventions.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to: 1.describe the use of diary interviews for study of HIV risk among injectors 2. Discuss the advantages of diary interviews in HIV prevention research among injectors 3. Consider the use of diary interviews in their own studies to complement other data collection methods
Keywords: Drug Injectors, HIV Risk Behavior
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.