Efficacy of mobile telephone contact for follow-up in injecting heroin users.
Författare
Summary, in English
Background: Prospective follow-up of heroin users is known to be difficult due to their unstable lifestyle, and high follow-up rates have usually demanded major tracking efforts. In Sweden, mobile telephones are commonly used by heavy drug users for drug trading. Objectives: This methodology study aims to examine the efficacy of mobile telephone contact for prospective follow-up interviews with injecting heroin users recruited at the syringe exchange program of Malmö, Sweden. Methods: Seventy-eight heroin users with mobile telephone numbers were included. Subjects reported using heroin for 28 days of the previous 30 days, and only 8% reported they had recently been engaged in work or studies. Clients were contacted between 15 and 21 times over 2 years, with each contact attempt generally involving two telephone calls on consecutive days. Results: During follow-up, 68% of subjects had been successfully contacted for at least one follow-up interview (on average 6.9 interviews), and 25% of follow-up attempts were successful. In 23% of the sample (n = 18), at least 50% of follow-up attempts were successful, and these subjects tended to be older (p = .05) and more likely to be female (p = .07), whereas follow-up rates were unrelated to baseline heroin use. Conclusions: Despite limited effort, and despite the severe situation of intravenous heroin users, mobile telephone contact can be used with heavy drug users in the present setting.
Publiceringsår
2011
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
89-92
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Volym
37
Issue
2
Länkar
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
Informa Healthcare
Ämne
- Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology
Status
Published
Forskningsgrupp
- Clinical Alcohol Research
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 1097-9891