Map task, a new method for improving needle exchange services

Abstract

Aims: To understand how injecting drug users reach needle exchange services and how services may be improved and how information can be disseminated to new clients.

Design: Using a qualitative design a new method was used, (the map task), which is traditionally used as a method of discourse analysis and for analyzing dialogues linguistically. The map task contained real plots (of the expected daily routine) and monologues were recorded while drawing the routes between the plots.

Setting: A pilot study was conducted between January and April 2008 in Budapest, Hungary.

Participants: A total of 30 map tasks were completed by intravenous drug takers reaching needle exchange services.

Measurements: The narratives of the daily routine (from home to the needle exchange service) were transcribed and coded.

Findings: The relevant frames and scripts of the daily routine were drawn from the narratives.

Conclusions: The use of the relevant frames and scripts of drug users reaching needle exchange helps to improve the services and more exact intervention messages for those drug takers who are not familiar with this service may be devised. This new method is more efficient for answering focused questions than a survey and less complicated and cheaper in money and time than an interview.

• Map task
• qualitative drug research
• linguistics
• methodology
• frames
• scripts

Notes

1. Map task differs from concept mapping (Novak, 1998), which is usually used in qualitative pedagogical research – informants are drawing maps of different concepts, thoughts related to a theme. The theoretical background of this method is the free association and the aim is to reveal hidden concepts and to analyse the relations between the concepts.