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Break the Cycle: Prevention for Reducing Initiation Into Injection Drug Use

Not Applicable
Conditions
Prevention and Control
Substance Abuse, Intravenous
Interventions
Behavioral: Break the Cycle Intervention
Registration Number
NCT03502525
Lead Sponsor
New York University
Brief Summary

Break the Cycle is a two-session, one-on-one, in-person intervention study designed to reduce the role persons who inject drugs (PWID) play initiating non-PWID into injection drug use. Study implementation is at two sites: New York City and Tallinn, Estonia. At baseline, quantitative data are collected via a structured computer-assisted personal interview, after which the intervention is conducted. At the 6-month follow-up, a modified version of the interview is repeated. The study uses a pre- versus post- design to compare the proportion of participants who helped with first injections, and who promoted injecting among non-PWID, in the 6 months prior to baseline with the proportions at the 6-month follow-up. Based on previous research on the intervention and on the underlying theory of motivational interviewing, increases in helping and promoting behaviors between baseline and follow-up would indicate that the intervention was not effective regardless of their effect size. Accordingly, the hypotheses that the intervention will produce reductions in assisting with first injections and engaging in injection promoting behaviors will be evaluated using one-tailed statistical tests. Break the Cycle intervention follows a motivational interviewing approach to enhance current injectors' motivation and skills to avoid helping with and promoting first injections among non-PWID. The intervention's core is a discussion between an interventionist and each participant on the following eight topics: the participant's first time injecting drugs; the participant's exposures to situations where helping with others' first injections is an option, and the extent to which they have helped; PWIDs' behaviors that might encourage non-PWID to inject for the first time; the range of risks associated with injection drug use; role-playing scenarios in which the participant develops behaviors and scripts for avoiding or refusing requests to initiate others into injection drug use; role- playing talking with other PWID about not encouraging non-PWID to start injecting; imparting safer injection practices when helping with a first injection seems like the best option; and receiving training in and using Narcan to reverse overdoses.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
UNKNOWN
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
400
Inclusion Criteria
  • have injected drugs non-medically in the last 2 months
  • able to provide informed consent
  • age 18 or older
  • able to participate in the interview and intervention in English (in New York City), Russian or Estonian (in Tallinn, Estonia)
Exclusion Criteria
  • none

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
SINGLE_GROUP
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Break the Cycle InterventionBreak the Cycle InterventionAll study participants are assigned to this experimental arm.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Number of participants helping with first injections6 months

Number of participants who helped persons who do not inject drugs with a first injection

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Number of participants who say positive things6 months

Number of participants who saying positive things about injecting to persons who do not inject drugs

Number of participants injecting in front of other people6 months

Number of participants injecting in front of people who do not inject drugs

Number of participants offering to give first injection6 months

Number of participants offering to give a first injection to persons who do not inject drugs

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

New York University

🇺🇸

New York, New York, United States

University of Tartu

🇪🇪

Tallinn, Estonia

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