This is a proposal to evaluate the long term outcomes of the SHIELD study, a network-oriented, experimental HIV prevention intervention for African American injection drug users (IDUs). Based on social influence framework with theories of social diffusion and social identity, the intervention used peers as change agents to introduce safer sex and drug norms to their social networks. The study is designed to empirically examine social processes, such as norm formation and peer influence, hypothesized to explain intervention outcomes. 224 current and former drug users were trained in the 10-session intervention. Index participants were randomly assigned to either a peer outreach or an equal-attention control condition. The indexes and their peer network members were administered pre-intervention and 3-month post intervention assessments, which will complete September 1999. Preliminary analysis of 118 participants suggests that indexes in the peer outreach condition reported fewer risk behaviors and more HIV-related discussions at the 3-month follow-up. We are requesting support to conduct 12-month, 18-month, and 24-month follow-up assessments to determine the long-term effects and diffusion of effects to 934 study participants, as well as non-participating eligible individuals for comparison. In addition to assessing long-term outcomes of the SHIELD study, we seek to identify characteristics of effective peer educators, individuals for whom the intervention was most beneficial, and factors that predict relapse of risk behaviors. We also propose to conduct urine-based screening of 3 sexually transmitted infections (STIs): gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomonas. In addition to their health sequelae, STIs are risk factors for HIV infection and transmission, are biological markers of HIV-related sexual behavior, and help validate self-reports of risk behaviors. The data will also used to examine associations between characteristics of sex partners and personal networks to describe sexual mixing patterns of this population.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DA013142-02
Application #
6402544
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-AARR-7 (01))
Program Officer
Lambert, Elizabeth
Project Start
2000-08-01
Project End
2003-07-31
Budget Start
2001-08-01
Budget End
2002-07-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
$513,569
Indirect Cost
Name
Johns Hopkins University
Department
Public Health & Prev Medicine
Type
Schools of Public Health
DUNS #
045911138
City
Baltimore
State
MD
Country
United States
Zip Code
21218
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Kumar, Pritika C; McNeely, Jennifer; Latkin, Carl A (2016) ""It's Not What You Know but Who You Know"": Role of Social Capital in Predicting Risky Injection Drug Use Behavior in a Sample of People who Inject Drugs in Baltimore City. J Subst Use 21:620-626
Billioux, Veena G; Sherman, Susan G; Latkin, Carl (2014) Religiosity and HIV-related drug risk behavior: a multidimensional assessment of individuals from communities with high rates of drug use. J Relig Health 53:37-45
Evans-Polce, Rebecca; Hulbert, Alicia; Latkin, Carl (2013) The Association of Multiple Neighborhood Perceptions with Depression among a Highly Impoverished Urban Sample. J Community Psychol 41:52-64
Kuramoto, S Janet; Wilcox, Holly C; Latkin, Carl A (2013) Social integration and suicide-related ideation from a social network perspective: a longitudinal study among inner-city African Americans. Suicide Life Threat Behav 43:366-78
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Comulada, W Scott; Muth, Stephen Q; Latkin, Carl A (2012) The analysis of multiple ties in longitudinal egocentric network data: A case study on bidirectional relationships between trust and drug use. Soc Networks 34:691-700
Mitchell, Mary M; Knowlton, Amy (2012) Caregiver role overload and network support in a sample of predominantly low-income, African-American caregivers of persons living with HIV/AIDS: a structural equation modeling analysis. AIDS Behav 16:278-87
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Latkin, Carl; Yang, Cui; Srikrishnan, Aylur K et al. (2011) The relationship between social network factors, HIV, and Hepatitis C among injection drug users in Chennai, India. Drug Alcohol Depend 117:50-4

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