Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #108672

Alexis N. Martinez, PhDc, Jennifer Lorvick, MPH, and Alexander H. Kral, PhD. Urban Health Studies, UCSF, 3180 18th Street, Suite 302, San Francisco, CA 94110, 415-502-5338, amartin@itsa.ucsf.edu

Background: Research on the social determinants of health increasingly makes use of neighborhood-level measures to explain variations in individual level health behaviors and outcomes, such as HIV/AIDS. To assess the influence of neighborhood effects on health outcomes among the urban poor, it is important to first address the high prevalence of intra-city mobility of indigent populations. The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of intra-city mobility among urban injection drug users (IDUs). Methods: We investigated the frequency and range of intra-city geographic mobility among 1,084 IDUs in San Francisco in 2004, comparing IDUs who were stably housed to those who were “homeless.” Homeless was defined as having slept in a vehicle, park, street, or shelter for at least one week in the past 6 months. Self-reported data were collected in face-to-face interviews with a 6-month time-frame. Results: Sixty-one percent of our sample was homeless. Sixty percent of homeless respondents spent all 26 weeks sleeping in the same 3-block radius, compared to 92% of stably housed respondents (p<0.05). Thirty-two percent of the homeless slept in one location for the entire 6 months, compared to 66% of stably housed (p<0.05). Homeless respondents spent a mean of 15.0 waking hours per day on the streets compared to only 7 hours for stably housed respondents (p<0.05). Conclusions: To appropriately utilize neighborhood level variables in health research of urban IDUs, we will need to develop culturally relevant measures of place and time for homeless and marginally housed people.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Describe the intra-city mobility of IDUs in San Francisco by housing status.
• Discuss the conceptual and methodological challenges for using neighborhood-level measures among urban poor populations, such as IDUs.
• Assess the validity of using traditional neighborhood-level measures such as Census tracts among urban poor populations such as IDUs.
• Foster the development of culturally relevant neighborhood level measures in health research of urban IDUs.

Keywords: Injection Drug Users, Homelessness

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.