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The Injection Support Team: a peer-driven program to address unsafe injecting in a Canadian setting
Will Small1, Evan Wood, Diane Tobin
1British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
The Injection Support Team (IST), a drug-user-led initiative, provides safer injecting education and assistance in Vancouver. This community-based research highlights its role in harm reduction, addressing gaps in local services.
Area of Science:
- Community-based participatory research
- Public Health
- Sociology of drug use
Background:
- The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) established the Injection Support Team (IST) in 2005.
- The IST operates as a drug-user-led intervention within the open drug scene.
- Identified gaps in local harm reduction services and programmatic barriers to supervised injection facilities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the drug-user-led Injection Support Team (IST) intervention.
- To understand the outreach activities and impact of the IST.
- To evaluate the IST as a response to harm reduction challenges.
Main Methods:
- Community-based research design.
- Observational study of IST activities.
- Qualitative interviews with IST members (over 30) and service users (9).
Main Results:
- The IST comprises experienced individuals providing safer injecting education.
- Outreach is conducted directly within the open drug scene.
- The IST offers instruction on safer assisted-injection techniques.
Conclusions:
- The IST represents a unique, drug-user-led harm reduction strategy.
- This intervention addresses critical gaps in existing local harm reduction efforts.
- The IST demonstrates the effectiveness of peer-led outreach in promoting safer drug use practices.
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