IngentaConnect Social Networks of Drug Users in High-Risk Sites: Finding the Con...

Authors: Weeks M.R.¹; Clair S.²; Borgatti S.P.³; Radda K.⁴; Schensul J.J.⁴

Source: AIDS and Behavior, Volume 6, Number 2, June 2002 , pp. 193-206(14)

Publisher: Springer

Abstract:

Social network research increasingly expands our understanding of the social environment of drug users' health risks, particularly those associated with the transmission of HIV, hepatitis, and other sexually transmitted and bloodborne infectious diseases. Our study of the networks of drug users who use high-risk sites, where people gather to inject drugs and smoke crack cocaine, is designed to explore the relationships and interactions of drug users in settings in which potential risk occurs, and to assess the opportunity to create prevention linkages. This paper describes the ego-network characteristics and macro-network linkages among a sample of 293 drug users recruited through street outreach and personal drug-use network referral in Hartford, Connecticut. Characteristics of the largest connected component of the network are also described and analyzed. We discuss uses of network analyses as well as implications of network connections for peer-led AIDS prevention intervention conducted in high-risk drug-use sites.

Keywords: HIV; drug users; social networks; drug-use settings; African Americans; Puerto Ricans

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: Institute for Community Research, Hartford, Connecticut 06106; mweeks@hartnet.org 2: Hispanic Health Council, Hartford, Connecticut 06106 3: The Carroll School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467 4: Institute for Community Research, Hartford, Connecticut 06106

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Social Networks of Drug Users in High-Risk Sites: Finding the Connections