Personal network characteristics as antecedents to needle-sharing and shooting gallery attendance

Abstract

Sharing of contaminated needles is one of the primary modes of HIV transmission in the US. This study sought to examine social contextual factors antecedent to needle-sharing in a sample of inner-city drug users in Baltimore, Maryland. Drug users' social context was assessed through an analysis of individual's personal networks. The sample, 330 individuals participating in an HIV-prevention study, were interviewed twice, an average of 5.2 months apart. An examination of the association between personal network characteristics at baseline and needle-sharing at follow-up revealed that higher total personal network density and larger drug network size were positively associated with reports of sharing needles. Attending shooting galleries was positively associated with size of positive feedback network, and negatively associated with size of material aid network. These data suggest that needle-sharing and injecting in shooting galleries is influenced by ecological and resource factors. The findings indicate the potential utility of network-oriented strategies for reducing needle-sharing among injecting drug users.