Comparing key characteristics of young adult crack users in and out-of-treatment in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy

Benedikt Fischer⁴  Jenna Gooch¹  Chantal Burnett¹  Francisco I Bastos³  Neilane Bertoni³  Marcelo Cruz² 

[1] Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction (CARMHA), Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 2400-515 West Hastings St., Vancouver V6B 5 K3, Canada;Institute of Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Av. Venceslau Bras, 71 Fundos, Rio de Janeiro 22290-140, Brazil;Institute of Communication and Scientific Information & Technology for Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Av. Brazil, 4365 – Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro 21040-360, Brazil;Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, 250 College Street, Toronto M5T 1R8, Canada

关键词: Service utilization;    Treatment access;    Marginalization;    Health characteristics;    Crack use;    Brazil;   

Others  :  833894
DOI  :  10.1186/1747-597X-9-2

 received in 2013-10-04, accepted in 2013-12-18,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Crack use is prevalent among street drug users in Brazilian cities, yet despite recent help system reforms and investments, treatment utilization is low. Other studies have identified a variety of – often inconsistent – factors associated with treatment status among crack or other drug users. This study compared socio-economic, drug use, health and service use characteristics between samples of young adult crack users in- and out-of-treatment in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Findings

Street-involved crack users (n = 81) were recruited by community-based methods, and privately assessed by way of an anonymous interviewer-administered questionnaire as well as biological methods, following informed consent. In-treatment users (n = 30) were recruited from a public service in-patient treatment facility and assessed based on the same protocol. Key indicators of interest were statistically cross-compared. Not-in-treatment users were less likely to: be white, educated, stably housed, to be involved in drug dealing, to report lifetime marijuana and current alcohol use, to report low mental health status and general health or addiction/mental health care; they were more likely to: be involved in begging and utilize social services, compared to the in-treatment sample (statistical significance for differences set at p < .05).

Conclusions

In-treatment and not-in-treatment crack users differed on several key characteristics. Overall, in-treatment users appeared to be more socio-economically integrated and connected to the health system, yet not acutely needier in terms of health or drug problems. Given overall low treatment utilization but high need, efforts are required to facilitate improved treatment access and use for marginalized crack users in Brazil.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Cruz et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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