Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Dec 12;4(4):e26159.
doi: 10.5812/ijhrba.26159. eCollection 2015 Dec.

Developing a Brief Scale to Measure HIV Transmission Risk Among Injecting Drug Users

Armita Shahesmaeili  1 , Ali Akbar Haghdoost  2 , Hamid Soori  3
Affiliations

Developing a Brief Scale to Measure HIV Transmission Risk Among Injecting Drug Users

Armita Shahesmaeili et al. Int J High Risk Behav Addict. .

Abstract

Background: One of the main concerns of policymakers is to measure the impact of harm reduction programs and different interventions on the risk of HIV transmission among Injecting Drug Users (IDUs). Looking simultaneously at multiple factors and conditions that affect the risk of HIV transmission may provide policymakers a better insight into the mixed nature of HIV transmission.

Objectives: The present study aimed to design a simple, brief, and multi-dimensional scale for measuring HIV transmission risk among IDUs.

Patients and methods: From October 2013 to March 2014, we conducted face-to-face interviews with 147 IDUs. Eligible participants were individuals 18 years or older who had injected drugs at least once during the last year and had not participated in similar studies within the 2 months before the interview. To design a scale for measuring HIV transmission risk, we specified 11 items, which address different dimensions of HIV risk taking behaviors/situations based on experts' opinion. We applied exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with principal component extraction to develop scales. Eigen values greater than 1 were used as a criterion for factor extraction.

Results: We extracted 7 items based on first factor, which were accounted for 21% of the variations. The final scale contained 7 items: 4 items were related to injecting practice and 3 items related to sexual behaviors. The Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.66, acceptable for such a brief scale.

Conclusions: Applying a simple and brief scale that incorporates the different dimensions of HIV transmission risk may provide policymakers and harm reductionists with a better understanding of HIV transmission in this key group and may be advantageous for evaluating intervention programs.

Keywords: Intravenous Drug Abuse; Iran; Needle Sharing; Sexual Behaviour; Transmission.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Harm Reduction International. The global state of harm reduction 2012: towards an integrated response. 2012. Available from: http://www.ihra.net/files/2012/07/24/GlobalState2012_Web.pdf.
    1. World Health Organization . In: Surveillance of Populations at High Risk for HIV Transmission. Regional Office for South-East Asia , editor. Geneva: 2007. Available from: http://www.cpc.unc.edu/measure/training/materials/m-e-of-hiv-aids-progra....
    1. UNODC . World drug report 2014. Vienna: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime; 2014. Available from: http://www.unodc.org/wdr2014/.
    1. Mumtaz GR, Weiss HA, Thomas SL, Riome S, Setayesh H, Riedner G, et al. HIV among people who inject drugs in the Middle East and North Africa: systematic review and data synthesis. PLoS Med. 2014;11(6):e26159. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001663. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Degenhardt L, Mathers B, Vickerman P, Rhodes T, Latkin C, Hickman M. Prevention of HIV infection for people who inject drugs: why individual, structural, and combination approaches are needed. Lancet. 2010;376(9737):285–301. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60742-8. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources