Factors Contributing to Retention of Not-in-Treatment Drug Users in an HIV/AIDS Outreach Prevention Project

SUMMARY

Studies have attempted to identify the characteristics of substance-abusing clients that are related to premature termination from alcohol and drug treatment. Few studies, however, have looked at predictors of loss to follow-up among drug users participating in HIV/AIDS prevention projects. This paper develops and tests models of program retention employing data from approximately 250 not-in-treatment drug users enrolled in an outreach based HIV risk reduction program. Logistic regression was used to fit a model which included measures of: (1) demographic characteristics including: age and ethnicity; (2) social environmental factors including: living situation and type of network connection; (3) risk behaviors including: composite scores for drug use in the past 30 days and history of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs); and (4) program factors including: outreach workers' knowledge of clients and number of intervention sessions received. Findings suggest that social environmental and program factors are most predictive of client retention in the program. Implications for ways in which to monitor retention of out-of-treatment drug users participating in AIDS prevention programs are addressed.