2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

Home Events & Meetings Annual Meeting Schedule & Program

Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

330197
Histories of victimization and its relationship with age of regular heroin injection among of long-term opioid dependent women and men


Sunday, November 1, 2015

Kirsten Marchand, PhD Candidate, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Heather Palis, PhD Candidate, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Jill Fikowski, MPH Candidate, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Scott Harrison, MA, School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Martin Schechter, MD, PhD, School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes, PhD, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Histories of victimization are associated with opioid-dependence. However, little is known about the role that age of abuse and relationship to perpetrator may have in this relationship. This study aims to test the association between the conditions of childhood victimization and age of regular heroin injection among long-term opioid dependent people.

We analyze data from a cross-sectional study with 177 (women = 81) long-term opioid-dependent people (Vancouver, Canada). Participants reporting physical (PA) and sexual abuse (SA) during childhood (measured by Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) were asked their age range and relationship to perpetrator. A gender-based analysis testing the bivariate and multivariate association between these conditions and initiating and regular age of heroin injection was performed.

Women were younger than men when they first experienced SA (p<0.001) and PA (p<0.01) and had a higher mean number of years of PA (p<0.05). The distribution of PA and SA perpetration was similar by gender: parents/guardians were most frequently (73.9%) reported to be the perpetrator of PA, while SA perpetration occurred by parent/guardians (27.5%), acquaintances (26.1%), other relatives (23.2%), multiple persons (17.4%) and strangers (5.8%). Preliminary analyses revealed a positive correlation between age of last SA with women’s regular (p<0.05) age of heroin injection. Among men, SA by an acquaintance or parent/guardian was significantly associated with lower mean age of regular heroin injection.  

An important number of people with long-term opioid-dependence experience childhood victimization. These findings offer insight into the gender-specific association between contextual factors of childhood PA and SA and age of heroin injection.

Learning Areas:

Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Analyze the potential role that age of childhood victimization and relationship to perpetrator have in age of regular heroin injection.

Keyword(s): Special Populations

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Kirsten Marchand is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia's School of Population and Public Health and was the research coordinator for the Gender Matters study, data from which will be presented.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 2057.0: International perspectives on substance use and health outcomes