Inability to Access Addiction Treatment Among Street-Involved Youth in a Canadian Setting

Abstract

From Sept 2005 to May 2012, 1015 street-involved youth were enrolled into the At-Risk Youth Study, a prospective cohort of youth aged 14–26 who use illicit drugs in Vancouver, Canada. Data were collected through semiannual interviewer administered questionnaires. Generalized estimating equation logistic regression was used to identify factors independently associated with being unable to access addiction treatment. The enclosed manuscript notes the implications and limitations of this study, as well as possible directions for future research. This study was funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Canadian Institutes of Health (CIHR).

Keywords :

• street-involved youth
• addiction treatment
• homelessness
• aboriginal ancestry
• prospective cohort

THE AUTHORS

Mark Phillips is a Research Assistant with the Urban Health Research Initiative (UHRI) in Vancouver. Mark has recently completed a placement with the ARYS conducting study interviews with street-involved youth. His areas of interest for research include substance misuse and risk behavior among street-involved youth. Mark is currently completing his Bachelor degree in Science.

Kora DeBeck, PhD, is a Research Scientist with the Urban Health Research Initiative (UHRI) at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Assistant Professor in the School of Public Policy at Simon Fraser University, and Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research/St. Paul's Hospital Foundation-PHCRI Career Scholar. Dr. DeBeck's research interests involve informing and evaluating health and policy interventions to reduce health and social harms among vulnerable drug using populations, with a focus on street-involved youth.

Timothy Desjarlais is a member of the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society (WAHRS). While celebrating the strengths and values of Aboriginal people, WAHRS strives to improve the lives of Aboriginal people living with illicit substance use. WAHRS works to ensure that a voice for people who are Aboriginal who use illicit drugs is empowered, strengthened and heard by policy makers, service providers and the public concerning societal, economic, health, and treatment issues related to the use of illicit drugs and illicit alcohol.

Tracey Morrison is the president of the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society (WAHRS). Starting in Downtown Eastside of Vancouver in 2002, WAHRS is an all-aboriginal group that was established to address the needs of aboriginal people who use illicit drugs and alcohol. As part of the WAHRS constitution, it is their mission to develop networks and coalitions of informed and empowered people who work to improve the health of aboriginal people who use illicit drugs and illicit alcohol.

Cindy Feng, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan. Cindy received her PhD in statistics at Simon Fraser University. She continues to work in collaboration with the Urban Health Research Initiative (UHRI), where she previously worked as a senior statistician. Cindy's research and teaching interests are in Biostatistics and Epidemiology, developing statistical methods for analysis of complex health data.

Thomas Kerr, PhD, is the co-director of the Addiction and Urban Health Research Initiative at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, and Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (Division of AIDS). In his role at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Dr. Kerr is a principal investigator of several large cohort studies, including the Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study (VIDUS). Dr. Kerr's primary research interests are HIV/AIDS, injection drug use, health policy and service evaluation, and community-based research methods. Dr. Kerr has published more than 335 scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journals and has received numerous awards for his contributions to public health, human rights, and the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Evan Wood, MD, PhD, ABIM, FRCPC, is a lead researcher at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE), Director of the BC-CfE's Urban Health Research Initiative (UHRI), and Professor in the Department o Medicine at the University of British Columbia. In addition, Dr. Evan Wood has been named as the inaugural Director of the St. Paul's Hospital Goldcorp Addiction Medicine Fellowship, Canada's first interdisciplinary medical education fellowship training program in addiction medicine. He has been widely involved in evaluating illicit drug policies with a special focus on injection drug use. He has co-authored over 350 scientific papers and has received international recognition for his research.