RTI uses cookies to offer you the best experience online. By clicking “accept” on this website, you opt in and you agree to the use of cookies. If you would like to know more about how RTI uses cookies and how to manage them please view our Privacy Policy here. You can “opt out” or change your mind by visiting: http://optout.aboutads.info/. Click “accept” to agree.
Acculturation and risky injection practices among Hispanic injectors
Zule, W., Desmond, DP., Medrano, MA., & Hatch, JP. (2001). Acculturation and risky injection practices among Hispanic injectors. Evaluation and Program Planning, 24(2), 207-214. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0149-7189(01)00010-6
Ethnic and gender-based correlates of safer needle use among 528 out-of-treatment drug injectors in San Antonio, Texas, were studied. The sample was 67% male, 75% Hispanic, 11% non-Hispanic white, and 14% African–American. Forty-seven percent of Hispanics were classified as high-acculturation, and 53% were classified as low-acculturation. HIV seroprevalence was 1.7%. Safer needle use was defined as never sharing syringes that had not been disinfected with bleach. Variables associated with safer needle use in bivariate analyses were entered into a multiple logistic regression analysis. Independent predictors of safer needle use included being African–American, a high-acculturation Hispanic, and female. Greater perceived AIDS risk; frequent cocaine injection; and sharing cookers, cottons, and water were all negatively associated with safer needle use. Among men, low-acculturation Hispanics were significantly more risky than the other groups, but there was no association between ethnicity and safer needle use among women.