Does Respondent Driven Sampling Alter the Social Network Composition and Health-Seeking Behaviors of Illicit Drug Users Followed Prospectively?

Respondent driven sampling (RDS) was originally developed to sample and provide peer education to injection drug users at risk for HIV. Based on the premise that drug users' social networks were maintained through sharing rituals, this peer-driven approach to disseminate educational information and reduce risk behaviors capitalizes and expands upon the norms that sustain these relationships. Compared with traditional outreach interventions, peer-driven interventions produce greater reductions in HIV risk behaviors and adoption of safer behaviors over time, however, control and intervention groups are not similarly recruited. As peer-recruitment may alter risk networks and individual risk behaviors over time, such comparison studies are unable to isolate the effect of a peer-delivered intervention. This analysis examines whether RDS recruitment (without an intervention) is associated with changes in health-seeking behaviors and network composition over 6 months. New York City drug users (N = 618) were recruited using targeted street outreach (TSO) and RDS (2006–2009). 329 non-injectors (RDS = 237; TSO = 92) completed baseline and 6-month surveys ascertaining demographic, drug use, and network characteristics. Chi-square and t-tests compared RDS- and TSO-recruited participants on changes in HIV testing and drug treatment utilization and in the proportion of drug using, sex, incarcerated and social support networks over the follow-up period. The sample was 66% male, 24% Hispanic, 69% black, 62% homeless, and the median age was 35. At baseline, the median network size was 3, 86% used crack, 70% used cocaine, 40% used heroin, and in the past 6 months 72% were tested for HIV and 46% were enrolled in drug treatment. There were no significant differences by recruitment strategy with respect to changes in health-seeking behaviors or network composition over 6 months. These findings suggest no association between RDS recruitment and changes in network composition or HIV risk, which supports prior findings from prospective HIV behavioral surveillance and intervention studies.

[1]  J. Hoffmann,et al.  Changes in network characteristics and HIV risk behavior among injection drug users. , 1997, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[2]  Douglas D. Heckathorn,et al.  AIDS Prevention Outreach Among Injection Drug Users: Agency Problems and New Approaches* , 1994 .

[3]  H. Sahai,et al.  Changes in HIV risk behaviors among intravenous drug users in San Juan, Puerto Rico. , 1992, British journal of addiction.

[4]  C. Latkin,et al.  The STEP into Action study: a peer-based, personal risk network-focused HIV prevention intervention with injection drug users in Baltimore, Maryland. , 2011, Addiction.

[5]  T J Crowley,et al.  Substance abuse treatment entry, retention and effectiveness: out-of-treatment opiate injection drug users. , 1996, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[6]  S. Semaan,et al.  Effectiveness of an HIV risk reduction counseling intervention for out-of-treatment drug users. , 1998, AIDS education and prevention : official publication of the International Society for AIDS Education.

[7]  C Latkin,et al.  Using social network analysis to study patterns of drug use among urban drug users at high risk for HIV/AIDS. , 1995, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[8]  H. Andrews,et al.  Impact of Social Network Characteristics on High-Risk Sexual Behaviors Among Non-Injection Drug Users , 2007, Substance use & misuse.

[9]  B. Weir,et al.  Facilitation into Drug Treatment or Self-Help among out-of-Treatment IDUS in Portland: You Can Lead a Horse to Water, But… , 1996 .

[10]  C. Latkin,et al.  Subpopulations of illicit drug users reached by targeted street outreach and respondent-driven sampling strategies: implications for research and public health practice. , 2011, Annals of epidemiology.

[11]  H. Colón,et al.  Effects of a HIV risk reduction education program among injection drug users in Puerto Rico. , 1993, Puerto Rico health sciences journal.

[12]  M. Clatts,et al.  Outcomes of a risk-reduction intervention with high-risk populations: the Harlem AIDS project. , 1995, AIDS education and prevention : official publication of the International Society for AIDS Education.

[13]  P. Biernacki,et al.  TARGETED SAMPLING: OPTIONS FOR THE STUDY OF HIDDEN POPULATIONS , 1989 .

[14]  Douglas D. Heckathorn,et al.  AIDS AND SOCIAL NETWORKS: HIV PREVENTION THROUGH NETWORK MOBILIZATION* , 1999 .

[15]  Jennifer Lauby,et al.  Street and network sampling in evaluation studies of HIV risk-reduction interventions. , 2002, AIDS reviews.

[16]  Carl A. Latkin,et al.  Gender differences in street economy and social network correlates of arrest among heroin injectors in Baltimore, Maryland , 2003, Journal of urban health.

[17]  Douglas D. Heckathorn,et al.  Respondent-driven sampling : A new approach to the study of hidden populations , 1997 .

[18]  R. Booth,et al.  Intravenous drug users and AIDS: risk behaviors. , 1991, The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse.

[19]  S. Lai,et al.  REAWAKENING THE DRAGON: CHANGING PATTERNS OF OPIATE USE IN ASIA, WITH PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON CHINA'S YUNNAN PROVINCE , 2001, Substance use & misuse.

[20]  W Mandell,et al.  Drug network characteristics as a predictor of cessation of drug use among adult injection drug users: a prospective study. , 1999, The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse.

[21]  C. Leukefeld,et al.  Longitudinal changes in methamphetamine and cocaine use in untreated rural stimulant users: racial differences and the impact of methamphetamine legislation. , 2008, Addiction.

[22]  Stephanie Tortu,et al.  Recruiting Injection Drug Users: A Three-Site Comparison of Results and Experiences with Respondent-Driven and Targeted Sampling Procedures , 2006, Journal of Urban Health.

[23]  I. Ahluwalia,et al.  Women at High Risk for HIV: Pregnancy and Risk Behaviors , 1995 .

[24]  M. Tyndall,et al.  Piloting a peer-driven intervention model to increase access and adherence to antiretroviral therapy and HIV care among street-entrenched HIV-positive women in Vancouver. , 2009, AIDS patient care and STDs.

[25]  C. Latkin,et al.  Individual and network interventions with injection drug users in 5 Ukraine cities. , 2011, American journal of public health.

[26]  F. J. Smith,et al.  Changing Needle Practices in Community Outreach and Methadone Treatment , 1994 .

[27]  J. Coleman Relational Analysis: The Study of Social Organizations with Survey Methods , 1958 .

[28]  S. Stevens,et al.  HIV sex and drug risk behavior and behavior change in a national sample of injection drug and crack cocaine using women. , 1998, Women & health.

[29]  Mark S Handcock,et al.  7. Respondent-Driven Sampling: An Assessment of Current Methodology , 2009, Sociological methodology.

[30]  Matthias Schonlau,et al.  Respondent-Driven Sampling , 2010 .

[31]  S. Borgatti,et al.  Social Networks of Drug Users in High-Risk Sites: Finding the Connections , 2002, AIDS and Behavior.

[32]  C. Latkin,et al.  Neighborhood socioeconomic status, personal network attributes, and use of heroin and cocaine. , 2007, American journal of preventive medicine.

[33]  Greg Scott,et al.  " They Got Their Program, and I Got Mine " : a Cautionary Tale concerning the Ethical Implications of Using Respondent-driven Sampling to Study Injection Drug Users , 2007 .

[34]  D. Heckathorn,et al.  HIV Prevention in Yaroslavl, Russia: A Peer-Driven Intervention and Needle Exchange , 1999 .

[35]  D. Heckathorn,et al.  Increasing drug users' adherence to HIV treatment: results of a peer-driven intervention feasibility study. , 2002, Social science & medicine.

[36]  E. Laumann,et al.  Monitoring AIDS and other rare population events: a network approach. , 1993, Journal of health and social behavior.

[37]  R J Mills,et al.  Harnessing peer networks as an instrument for AIDS prevention: results from a peer-driven intervention. , 1998, Public health reports.

[38]  Andrew S. Fullerton,et al.  Peer-driven HIV interventions for drug injectors in Russia: First year impact results of a field experiment , 2006 .

[39]  D. D. Des Jarlais,et al.  Effects of outreach intervention on risk reduction among intravenous drug users. , 1990, AIDS education and prevention : official publication of the International Society for AIDS Education.

[40]  C Latkin,et al.  People and places: behavioral settings and personal network characteristics as correlates of needle sharing. , 1996, Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes and human retrovirology : official publication of the International Retrovirology Association.

[41]  C. Latkin,et al.  Talking the talk, walking the walk: social network norms, communication patterns, and condom use among the male partners of female sex workers in La Romana, Dominican Republic. , 2009, Social science & medicine.

[42]  Douglas D. Heckathorn,et al.  Respondent-driven sampling II: deriving valid population estimates from chain-referral samples of hi , 2002 .

[43]  W. Swann,et al.  Understanding and preventing HIV risk behavior , 1996 .

[44]  J. Potterat,et al.  Social networks and infectious disease: the Colorado Springs Study. , 1994, Social science & medicine.

[45]  R. Baxter,et al.  Participation in an outreach-based coupon distribution program for free methadone detoxification. , 1993, Hospital & community psychiatry.

[46]  A. Neaigus,et al.  Social intervention against AIDS among injecting drug users. , 1992, British journal of addiction.

[47]  Carl A Latkin,et al.  The dynamics of injection drug users' personal networks and HIV risk behaviors. , 2006, Addiction.

[48]  E. Hockman,et al.  Effect of a Nursing Outreach Intervention to Drug Users in Detroit, Michigan , 1996 .

[49]  Tobi Saidel,et al.  Review of sampling hard-to-reach and hidden populations for HIV surveillance. , 2005, AIDS.

[50]  A. Neaigus,et al.  The network approach and interventions to prevent HIV among injection drug users. , 1998, Public health reports.

[51]  H. Siegal,et al.  Reducing HIV needle risk behaviors among injection-drug users in the Midwest: an evaluation of the efficacy of standard and enhanced interventions. , 1995, AIDS education and prevention : official publication of the International Society for AIDS Education.

[52]  R. Curtis,et al.  Organizing as a new approach to AIDS risk reduction for intravenous drug users. , 1991, Journal of addictive diseases.

[53]  D. Simpson,et al.  Cognitive Readiness of Drug Injectors to Reduce AIDS Risks , 1995 .

[54]  W. Compton,et al.  Peer-delivered interventions reduce HIV risk behaviors among out-of-treatment drug abusers. , 1998, Public health reports.

[55]  R. Stephens,et al.  Effects of an intervention program on AIDS-related drug and needle behavior among intravenous drug users. , 1991, American journal of public health.

[56]  J Normand,et al.  Outreach-based HIV prevention for injecting drug users: a review of published outcome data. , 1998, Public health reports.