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- Title
Contradictions and Misperceptions: An Exploration of Injecting Practice, Cleanliness, Risk, and Partnership in the Lives of Women Drug Users.
- Authors
Sheard, Laura; Tompkins, Charlotte
- Abstract
We report the findings of an in-depth interview study conducted with 45 women injecting drug users in Britain. Women described experiences of injecting themselves and being injected by others, including instances of bodily harm and pain. Cleanliness when injecting was an issue of particular importance. An interesting division ("line of decency") occurred between opinions on sharing needles versus sharing injecting equipment. Partnership dynamics were important and partners sometimes had a pervasive influence on women's drug use and injecting practices. Narratives of risk showed that some women understood the risk of blood-borne viruses and outlined practical riskprevention strategies. Some women did not perceive themselves to be at particular risk. Moral opinions were voiced about the risk behavior of others. Notions of risk were highly contextual and depended on a woman's immediate injecting situation. This article reports the inherent complexity resident in women drug users' decisions surrounding their injecting behavior.
- Subjects
DRUG abusers; INTRAVENOUS drug abusers; PEOPLE with drug addiction; SUBSTANCE abuse; WOMEN'S health; MEDICAL research; SOCIAL medicine; PUBLIC health research; QUALITATIVE research
- Publication
Qualitative Health Research, 2008, Vol 18, Issue 11, p1536
- ISSN
1049-7323
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1177/1049732308325838