Awareness, predictors and outcomes of drug alerts among people who access harm reduction services in British Columbia, Canada: findings from a 2021 cross-sectional survey.
epidemiology
health policy
public health
Journal
BMJ open
ISSN: 2044-6055
Titre abrégé: BMJ Open
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101552874
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
09 05 2023
09 05 2023
Historique:
medline:
11
5
2023
pubmed:
10
5
2023
entrez:
9
5
2023
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
To assess the awareness and predictors of seeing/hearing a drug alert in British Columbia (BC) and subsequent drug use behaviour after seeing/hearing an alert. This study analysed the 2021 BC harm reduction client survey (HRCS)-a cross-sectional self-reported survey administered at harm reduction sites throughout the province and completed by participants using the services. In total, n=537 respondents participated and n=482 (89.8%) responded to the question asking if they saw/heard a drug alert. Of those, n=300 (62.2%) stated that they saw/heard a drug alert and almost half reported hearing from a friend or peer network; the majority (67.4%) reported altering their drug use behaviour to be safer after seeing/hearing a drug alert. The proportion of individuals who saw/heard a drug alert increased with each ascending age category. Among health authorities, there were significant differences in the odds of seeing/hearing an alert. In the past 6 months, the odds of participants who attended harm reduction sites a few times per month seeing/hearing an alert were 2.73 (95% CI: 1.17 to 6.52) times the odds of those who did not. Those who attended more frequently were less likely to report seeing/hearing a drug alert. The odds of those who witnessed an opioid-related overdose in the past 6 months seeing/hearing an alert were 1.96 (95% CI: 0.86 to 4.50) times the odds of those who had not. We found that drug alerts were mostly disseminated through communication with friends or peers and that most participants altered their drug use behaviour after seeing/hearing a drug alert. Therefore, drug alerts can play a role in reducing harms from substance use and more work is needed to reach diverse populations, such as younger people, those in differing geographical locations, and those who attend harm reduction sites more frequently.
Identifiants
pubmed: 37160395
pii: bmjopen-2022-071379
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-071379
pmc: PMC10174008
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
e071379Informations de copyright
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Competing interests: None declared.
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