The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #59979

Janetta Astone, PhD¹, Shiela M. Strauss, PhD¹, Holly Hagan, PhD², and Don C Des Jarlais, PhD³. (1) National Development and Research Institutes, Inc, 71 West 23rd Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10010, (212) 845-4407, janetta.astone@ndri.org, (2) Center for Drug Use and HIV Research, National Development and Research Institutes, 71 West 23rd, 8th floor, New York, NY 10010, (3) National Development and Research Institutes; Beth Israel Med. Ctr, NYC, 71 West 23rd Street, 8th floor, New York, NY 10010

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) continues to infiltrate the drug abusing population at an alarming rate. Because this population is difficult to reach, drug treatment programs can serve as critical sites to provide HCV primary and secondary prevention services to each of their clients. Previous research has shown that drug treatment program directors serve as gatekeepers for implementing services within their programs. Yet, little or no research has examined drug treatment program directors’ beliefs about providing HCV services. In this paper, we report on the responses of 160 program directors to a telephone survey concerning their perspectives on HCV service provision to their clients during treatment. All of these individuals were participating in the “STOP HepC” project, funded by NIDA, whose purpose is to understand the national drug treatment program response to HCV. Results indicate that most (74%) directors believe that offering HCV testing is an essential service and 67% indicate that they would provide this testing if they had the funding to pay for it. In addition, almost half (45%) of the directors feel that HCV infection is a real obstacle to clients’ substance abuse recovery. However, 18% of the directors want to wait until more is known about the treatment regimen for HCV before instituting HCV services. Our findings can help policy makers understand the dilemmas that drug treatment program directors face in deciding how best to serve their clients concerning HCV, as well as helping them to determine the feasibility of resource allocations to support these efforts.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to
• Describe, from the perspective of drug treatment program directors, the benefits and drawbacks of offering hepatitis C related services to clients in their programs.
• Discuss the policy implications for providing HCV services in drug treatment programs that are illuminated by these directors' perspectives.

Keywords: Health Care Delivery, Drug Abuse Treatment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.