September 28, 1995 Contact: Jennifer McNulty (408/459-2495)

UC SANTA CRUZ SOCIOLOGIST GETS GRANT TO EVALUATE EFFECTIVENESS OF HIV-PREVENTION PROGRAMS AMONG INJECTION DRUG USERS IN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--In Santa Cruz County, outreach workers with the Santa Cruz AIDS Project and Santa Cruz Needle Exchange have been hitting the streets to offer injection drug users spot counseling, safe-sex information, condoms, clean needles, and referrals to treatment programs. Injection drug users are a critical group to reach in the battle against AIDS because they, their sexual partners, and their children make up the fastest-growing group of new cases of HIV infection.

But no one knows just how effective these local outreach efforts have been. A new two-year study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of such work and will pave the way for the development of a model outreach program for small cities and other nonmetropolitan areas.

Craig Reinarman, an associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in collaboration with Sharon Green, director of education and prevention at the Santa Cruz AIDS Project (SCAP), has received a grant of $178,606 from UC's Universitywide AIDS Research Program to conduct the study. Reinarman and Green will work to expand existing outreach efforts and to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of what has been developed in Santa Cruz. "There is initial evidence of the need for these programs and the effectiveness of these programs," says Reinarman. "But they need to be evaluated so we can fine-tune them and demonstrate their effectiveness."

"It is crucial to reach injection drug users, but they are particularly difficult to contact," adds Reinarman. Due to limited funding and staff resources, SCAP and Santa Cruz Needle Exchange have lacked the capacity to evaluate the impact of their work, says Reinarman.

During the study, titled "Preventing HIV in Injection Drug Users: A Small City Model," more than 500 injection drug users will be interviewed, and a written questionnaire will be administered by trained volunteers and paid staff from SCAP and Santa Cruz Needle Exchange. Reinarman will develop the questionnaire, monitor data collection, analyze the results, and ultimately create the model for replication elsewhere. In addition, a consortium of local AIDS service providers and representatives from health and social service agencies will meet every two months to compare notes on the use of AIDS-related services and to discuss strategies for controlling the spread of HIV. "We're building a cross-agency infrastructure so that Santa Cruz County will be better able to respond to the AIDS crisis," says Reinarman.

"We need to find out what services work best for which subgroups within the injection drug-using population," says Reinarman, noting that Santa Cruz Needle Exchange has developed an innovative home visitation program designed to reach women injection drug users because they are less likely than men to go out to needle exchange sites or outreach centers.

Although many major metropolitan areas have sophisticated outreach programs targeting intravenous drug users, smaller cities often lack the expertise or resources to launch such efforts, says Reinarman. "For every San Francisco and New York, there are 100 small cities like Santa Cruz that certainly have injection drug users but don't have any services for them," he says. "Our systematic evaluation of a fairly advanced outreach program here in Santa Cruz will help us develop a model for use in other cities. We'll know what works and why."

Most injection drug users in Santa Cruz County use heroin, although there is cocaine and amphetamine use, as well, says Reinarman.

The Universitywide AIDS Research Program, which funded the study, was established in 1983 to link the scientific expertise of UC faculty with community organizations in AIDS-related research projects. The state legislature allocates funds for the program each year; this study is one of five that were funded statewide this year.

(This release is also available on UC NewsWire, the University of California's electronic news service. To access by modem, dial 1- 209-244-6971.)

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