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

Abstract #117459

Lynn D. Wenger, MSW, MPH¹, Lauren Gee, JD, MPH¹, Laura Guzman, JD², and Alexander H. Kral, PhD¹. (1) Urban Health Study, University of California, San Francisco, 3180 18th St., Suite 302, Box 1304, San Francisco, CA 94110, 415-502-7379, lynndee@rti.org, (2) Mission Neighborhood Resource Center, 165 Capp St., San Francisco, CA 94110

Background: The Mission Neighborhood Resource Center (MNRC) is an integrated resource center providing basic needs services (showers, bathrooms, laundry), counseling, case management, and health care to homeless individuals in San Francisco. The MNRC provides services from a harm reduction perspective; it is low threshold and active drug users can participate in all services provided. The objective of this study is to assess whether MNRC participants are more likely than those in a comparison group to access drug treatment services.

Methods: Homeless injection drug users (IDUs) were recruited from MNRC and an adjacent neighborhood and followed over 6 months (N=184). They were interviewed about social services utilization. San Francisco's Community Substance Abuse Service's centralized drug treatment database (CSAS) was queried to assess whether participants entered drug treatment and which type of treatment they entered.

Results: 23% female; 36% under 40 years old; 37% African American, 46% white, 8% Latino. Per self-report, the percent of MNRC clients who entered drug treatment in the past 6 months increased from 22% at baseline to 41% at follow-up (p<0.001). In the comparison group, there was not a statistically significant increase in self-reported entry to drug treatment over the six-month period (33% vs. 38%; p=0.43). Using CSAS, individuals in the intervention group were more likely to enter treatment than those in the comparison group. After adjusting for treatment rates at baseline, the difference was not statistically significant OR=1.47 (95% CI 0.77, 2.83).

Conclusions: An integrated resource center can facilitate homeless IDUs' entry into drug treatment.

Learning Objectives:

• At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to; describe the impact of an integrated resource center on the lives of homeless IDUs, understand the linkage between an integrated resource center and drug treatment services, and discuss the methodological benefits of using both self reported data and programatic data when evaluating a community based organization.

Keywords: Drug Injectors, Access and Services

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.