Barriers and Opportunities for Recruitment for Nonintervention Studies on HIV Risk: Perspectives of Street Drug Users

Abstract

This study used focus-group discussions in response to a video vignette to examine attitudes toward recruitment for nonintervention research involving HIV testing. Participants were 100 ethnically diverse, economically disadvantaged urban drug users, who were recruited from New York City and Hartford, Connecticut in the spring and summer of 2006. Content analyses revealed themes including (1) fears of stigma and legal trouble balanced by trustworthiness of the recruiter; (2) fears of learning one's HIV status balanced by prospects for health benefits, and (3) the right to receive fair monetary compensation balanced by risks of coercion during periods of cravings. Limitations and implications for recruitment practices have been discussed here.

Keywords:

• Drug use
• HIV risk
• participant perspectives
• monetary incentives
• stigma
• trust

Notes

¹ The journal's style utilizes the category substance abuse as a diagnostic category. Substances are used or misused; living organisms are and can be abused. Editor's note.

² The full script is available from C. B. Fisher, [email protected].