Influence of Interpersonal and Mass-Mediated Interventions on Injection Drug and Crack Users: Diffusion of Innovations and Hiv Risk Behaviors

Abstract

Evaluation research of public health media campaigns to influence behavior change often bemoans the lack of relevance to target audience and an absence of integrated interpersonal and mass-mediated communication channels. The assumption that illegal drug users are disconnected from mass-mediated communication may account for this absence of media interventions. The authors used cross-tabulation, chi-square, and regression analyses to demonstrate that many out-of-treatment drug users in an HIV-prevention research project are media consumers and that participants who recalled seeing or hearing media interventions reported greater levels of positive behavior change than participants who did not recall such messages. Results suggest coordination of human and mass-mediated public health messages relevant to this population to facilitate behavior changes.