Resumption of injecting drug use following release from prison in Australia

RJ Winter; JT Young; M Stoové; PA Agius; ME Hellard; SA Kinner

Journal article

Resumption of injecting drug use following release from prison in Australia

RJ Winter, JT Young, M Stoové, PA Agius, ME Hellard, SA Kinner

Drug and Alcohol Dependence | ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD | Published : 2016

DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.08.640

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Abstract

Introduction Ex-prisoners with a history of injecting drug use (IDU) experience disproportionate drug-related harm. Rapid resumption of substance use following prison release is common and evidenced in high rates of overdose mortality. However, few studies have documented the rate of IDU resumption following prison release or identified risk factors for relapse. Methods Structured interviews were conducted with 533 adults with a history of IDU in Queensland, Australia prior to release from prison and approximately 1, 3 and 6 months post-release. Incidence of self-reported IDU resumption was calculated overall and for each follow-up interval. Risk factors associated with time to resumption of..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Jesse T Young Author

Margaret Hellard Author

Stuart Kinner Author

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Grants

Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Strategic Award#409966 and the Centre for Research Excellence on Injecting Drug Use (CREIDU) #1001144. RW is supported by NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship#603756 and CREIDU. JY is supported by a Melbourne University International Research Scholarship, MS is supported by NHMRC Career Development Fellowship#1090445, PA is supported by CREIDU, MH is supported by NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship#1112297, SK is supported by NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship#1078168. The funding sources had no role in the study design, collection or analysis of data, or in the writing or submission of the manuscript. The authors acknowledge the contribution to this work of the Victorian Operational Infrastructure Support Programme.