The impact of opiate addiction on public health has been severe with its links to disease, death, economics, and mental health problems. Many opiate addicts inject drugs several times each day which has been associated with many infectious diseases, including: Hepatitis B and C, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS (National Institutes on Drug Abuse, 2000). This study investigated the relationships of psychological dysfunction, drug treatment engagement, HIV risk reduction attitudes, and HIV risk behaviors among methadone maintained clients. It was guided by the AIDS Risk Reduction Model (ARRM), a heuristic device that helps to explain/predict behavior change of individuals in relationship to sexual and injection drug use transmission of HIV/AIDS. A quantitative cross-sectional research design was utilized to examine the relationship between psychological dysfunction and HIV risk behavior among methadone maintained clients and how drug treatment engagement and HIV risk reduction attitudes affect this relationship. A total of 200 participants who were at least 18 years old and were enrolled in methadone maintenance treatment were included in this investigation. This study found that 60% of the participants had experienced moderate to high levels of psychological dysfunction. Psychological dysfunction was categorized into past depression, anxiety, and hostility symptoms. Multiple regression analyses showed that overall psychological dysfunction and drug treatment engagement predicts HIV risk behavior among methadone maintained individuals (F=13.06; p<.000). However, when the standardized regression coefficients of the individual independent variables were examined, only drug treatment engagement was found to significantly contribute to the prediction of HIV risk behavior ($=-.22; p< .01), indicating that those who reported higher levels of treatment engagement had lower levels of HIV risk behavior. The mediating role of drug treatment engagement on the relationship between psychological dysfunction and HIV risk behavior was supported. Although, it was not supported for HIV risk reduction attitudes, analysis showed that HIV risk reduction attitudes were moderately and significantly correlated with HIV risk behavior. The findings of this study provide social work and public health practitioners who work in the field of drug and alcohol treatment and HIV prevention with vital information This study underscores the need for early identification and modification of psychological problems among methadone maintained individuals. Drug treatment provides a vital opportunity to address psychological problems and HIV risk behavior, there is an irrefutable need for the social work and public health professionals to further research and develop/refine interventions to prevent the spread of HIV disease among this population. Early screening and treatment of psychological problems may help increase drug treatment engagement rates which may reduce HIV risk behavior and ultimately save lives among methadone maintained clients.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-01012008-150149 |
| Date | 02 January 2008 |
| Creators | Davis-Jones, Latika D. |
| Contributors | John M. Wallace, Jr., Ph.D., Hidenori Yamatani, Ph.D., Lambert Maguire, Ph.D., Kenneth Jaros, Ph.D. |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-01012008-150149/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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