Document 0369
 DOCN  M9590369
 TI    Friends and lovers: needle sharing in young people injecting drugs in
       Western Australia.
 DT    9509
 AU    Loxley W; Ovenden C; National Centre for Research into the Prevention of
       Drug Abuse,; Perth, Western Australia.
 SO    Annu Conf Australas Soc HIV Med. 1994 Nov 3-6;6:122 (unnumbered
       abstract). Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE ASHM6/95291730
 AB    The Youth AIDS and Drugs (YAD) Study is a study of young people who
       inject drugs, and their risk of the transmission of HIV through needle
       sharing and/or unsafe sex. One hundred and five people, aged less than
       21, 75% of whom were injectors, undertook in-depth interviews which were
       tape recorded, transcribed and analysed qualitatively. The focus of the
       study was on individual, cultural, and social processes underlying risk
       behaviour. This paper focuses on the ways in which the young people in
       the group attempted to manage to the risk of needle sharing. Needle
       sharing in the study group was not a common behaviour. There was ample
       evidence that respondents understood the risks of sharing with an HIV+
       person, but most considered themselves to be at little or no risk of HIV
       from their drug use for a variety of reasons. Almost all injectors
       employed one of four major Risk Management Strategies. Some had given up
       using drugs or injecting altogether, others had decided never to share,
       or only to share needles that had been bleached, and others had decided
       only to share with those who they considered 'safe'. Only two claimed
       not to care about the risk. Those respondents who had shared, or
       believed that they might share, were unlikely to do so with anyone other
       than a close friend or lover, believing that these were well enough
       known by the individual for there to be very little risk. 'Knowing',
       however, seldom equated to an adequate knowledge of the individual's
       sexual and drug using history. Around one in three injectors expressed
       preparedness to share needles with a lover, particularly if they had
       already had unprotected sex with that person. However safe behaviour,
       both injecting and sexual, within relationships was not so much
       negotiated as assumed, and risk perception was strongly influenced by
       beliefs about romance and trust. The implications of these findings for
       health promotion with young people who inject drugs will be outlined.
 DE    Adolescence  Adult  Female  Human  HIV Infections/PREVENTION &
       CONTROL/PSYCHOLOGY/*TRANSMISSION  *Interpersonal Relations  *Knowledge,
       Attitudes, Practice  Male  Needle Sharing/*PSYCHOLOGY  Risk-Taking
       Sexual Partners/*PSYCHOLOGY  Substance Abuse,
       Intravenous/COMPLICATIONS/*PSYCHOLOGY  Western Australia  MEETING
       ABSTRACT

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).