Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Establishing Trust In Hiv/Hcv Research Among People Who Inject Drugs (Pwid): Insights From Empirical Research, Roberto Abadie, Shira Goldenberg, Melissa Welch-Lazoritz, Celia B. Fisher

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Background — The establishment of trust between researchers and participants is critical to advance HIV and HCV prevention particularly among people who inject drugs (PWID) and other marginalized populations, yet empirical research on how to establish and maintain trust in the course of community health research is lacking. This paper documents ideas about trust between research participants and researchers amongst a sub-sample of PWID who were enrolled in a large, multi-year community health study of social networks and HIV/HCV risk that was recently conducted in rural Puerto Rico.

Methods — Qualitative research was nested within a multi-year Social Network and …

Injection Partners, Hcv, And Hiv Status Among Rural Persons Who Inject Drugs In Puerto Rico, Patrick Habecker, Roberto Abadie, Melissa L. Welch-Lazoritz, Juan Carlos Reyes, Bilal Khan, Kirk Dombrowski

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Background—The prevalence of hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV among persons who inject drugs (PWID) and the ability of these diseases to spread through injection networks are well documented in urban areas. However, less is known about injection behaviors in rural areas.

Objectives—This study focuses on the association between the number of self-reported injection partners with the PWID’s self-reported HCV and HIV status. Injection networks provide paths for infection and information to flow, and are important to consider when developing prevention and intervention strategies.

Methods—Respondent driven sampling was used to conduct 315 interviews with PWID in rural Puerto Rico during 2015. …

Rural And Urban Injection Drug Use In Puerto Rico: Network Implications For Human Immunodeficiency Virus And Hepatitis C Virus Infection, Courtney Thrash, Melissa L. Welch-Lazoritz, G. Robin Gauthier, Bilal Khan, Roberto Abadie, Kirk Dombrowski, Sandra Miranda De Leon, Yadira Rolon Colon

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Understanding the short- and long-term transmission dynamics of blood-borne illnesses in network contexts represents an important public health priority for people who inject drugs and the general population that surrounds them. The purpose of this article is to compare the risk networks of urban and rural people who inject drugs in Puerto Rico. In the current study, network characteristics are drawn from the sampling “trees” used to recruit participants to the study. We found that injection frequency is the only factor significantly related to clustering behavior among both urban and rural people who inject drugs.

Intensive Referral To Mutual-Help Groups: A Field Trial Of Adaptations For Rural Veterans, Kathleen M. Grant, Lance Brendan Young, Kimberly A. Tyler, Jamie L. Simpson, R. Dario Pulido, Christine Timko

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Objective: A multisite field trial testing whether improved outcomes associated with intensive referral to mutual help groups (MHGs) could be maintained after the intervention was adapted for the circumstances and needs of rural veterans in treatment for substance use disorder (SUD). Methods: In three Veterans Affairs treatment programs in the Midwest, patients (N = 195) received standard referral (SR) or rural-adapted intensive referral (RAIR) and were measured at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Results: Both groups reported significant improvement at 6 months but no significant differences between SR and RAIR groups in MHG participation, substance use, addiction severity, and posttraumatic stress …

Does Insulin Therapy Matter? Determinants Of Diabetes Care Outcomes, Jennifer A. Andersen, Larry Gibbs

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Objective: To evaluate adherence to care standards for people with diabetes (PWDs) on insulin therapy versus PWDs who are not on insulin therapy, controlling for social determinants.

Research design and methods: Utilizing the United States 2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey, this study used logistic regression analyses to estimate differences in self-care behaviors, healthcare provider quality of care, and diabetic complications for individuals on insulin therapy and individuals not on insulin therapy.

Results: PWDs on insulin therapy are more likely to adhere to self-care measures (self-glucose checks [OR: 7.57], self-foot checks [OR: 1.27], diabetes class participation [OR: 1.96]), adherence …

“Just Because A Doctor Says Something, Doesn’T Mean That [It] Will Happen”: Self-Perception As Having A Fertility Problem Among Infertility Patients, Ophra Leyser-Whalen, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Katherine M. Johnson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Only some individuals who have the medically defined condition ‘infertility’ adopt a self-definition as having a fertility problem, which has implications for social and behavioral responses, yet there is no clear consensus on why some people and not others adopt a medical label. We use interview data from 28 women and men who sought medical infertility treatment to understand variations in self-identification. Results highlight the importance of identity disruption for understanding the dialectical relationship between medical contact and self-identification, as well as how diagnosis acts both as a category and a process. Simultaneously integrating new medical knowledge from testing and …