Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Barriers To The Dissemination Of Four Harm Reduction Strategies: A Survey Of Addiction Treatment Providers In Ontario, Karen L. Hobden, John A. Cunningham

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

A sample of service providers at addictions agencies' in Ontario were interviewed by telephone to assess attitudes toward, anticipated internal and external barriers to implementing, and expected benefits of four harm reduction strategies: needle exchange, moderate drinking goals, methadone treatment, and provision of free condoms to clients. Respondents were also asked to define harm reduction, list its most important elements, and describe what they find most troubling and most appealing about harm reduction. Attitudes toward harm reduction in general and the services provided at each agency were also assessed. Results indicated that the service providers surveyed had positive attitudes …