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An examination of injection drug use sites in Vancouver: The influence of social and physical context on drug-related harms and public health interventions

  • Research program: Ethnographic Research
  • Project status: Completed
  • Start date: September 2005
  • Expected end date: December 2010
  • Completion date: March 2011
  • Funded by: Canadian Institutes of Health Research
  • Lead organisation:
Project Description

Injecting drug use may result in severe health consequences including increased risk of viral infections such as HIV and hepatitis C, soft tissue infections, and drug overdose. Recently, with increasing attention being paid to the impact of environment on individual and public health, intervention efforts for injecting drug users have moved beyond the modification of individual behaviour and focused on modifying the environments in which people inject drugs. These structural interventions require knowledge of social and ecological factors which influence health and risk behaviour among injecting drug users.

PhD Student
PhD Supervisors
NDRI Project Staff
Name & Contact Details Role Research Program Location
NDRI Adjunct Project Staff
External Project Staff
  • Chief Investigator: Will Small, University of British Columbia
  • Co-investigator: Mark Tyndall, University of British Columbia
  • Co-investigator: Jean Shoveller, University of British Columbia
  • Co-investigator: David Moore, La Trobe University
Project Contact

Will Small

Tel:
wsmall@cfenet.ubc.ca
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Sustainable Development Goals and Targets

This project aligns with the following Sustainable Development Goals and Targets:

Related Publications

Krusi, A., McNeil, R., Moore, D. and Small, W. (2016). 'Because I've been extremely careful': HIV seroconversion, responsibility, citizenship, and the neo-liberal drug-using subject. Health, Risk and Society , 19, (1), pp. 58-73. doi:10.1080/13698575.2016.1245850 [RJ1265] View web page

Small, W., Moore, D., Shoveller, J., Wood, E. and Kerr, T. (2012). Perceptions of risk and safety within injection settings: Injection drug users’ reasons for attending a supervised injecting facility. Health, Risk and Society, 14, (4), pp. 307-324. doi:10.1080/13698575.2012.680950 [RJ737] View web page

Small, W., Shoveller, J., Moore, D., Tyndall, M., Wood, E. and Kerr, T. (2011). Injection drug users’ access to a supervised injection facility in Vancouver, Canada: The influence of operating policies and local drug culture. Qualitative Health Research, 21, (6), pp. 743-756. doi:10.1177/1049732311400919 [RJ735] View web page

Kerr, T., Small, W., Moore, D. and Wood, E. (2007). A micro-environmental intervention to reduce the harms associated with drug-related overdose: Evidence from the evaluation of Vancouver’s safer injection facility. International Journal of Drug Policy, 18, (1), pp. 37-45. doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2006.12.008 [RJ499] View web page