Abstract

Background

Despite high morbidity and mortality among people who use drugs (PWUD) in rural America, most research is conducted within urban areas. Our objective was to describe influencing factors, motivations, and barriers to research participation and retention among rural PWUD.

Methods

We recruited 255 eligible participants from community outreach and community-based, epidemiologic research cohorts from April to July 2019 to participate in a cross-sectional survey. Eligible participants reported opioid or injection drug use to get high within 30 days and resided in high-needs rural counties in Oregon, Kentucky, and Ohio. We aggregated response rankings to identify salient influences, motivations, and barriers. We estimated prevalence ratios to assess for gender, preferred drug use, and geographic differences using log-binomial models.

Results

Most participants were male (55%) and preferred methamphetamine (36%) over heroin (35%). Participants reported confidentiality, amount of financial compensation, and time required as primary influential factors for research participation. Primary motivations for participation include financial compensation, free HIV/HCV testing, and contribution to research. Changed or false participant contact information and transportation are principal barriers to retention. Respondents who prefer methamphetamines over heroin reported being influenced by the purpose and use of their information (PR = 1.12; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.26). Females and Oregonians (versus Appalachians) reported knowing and wanting to help the research team as participation motivation (PR = 1.57; 95% CI: 1.09, 2.26 and PR = 2.12; 95% CI: 1.51, 2.99).

Conclusions

Beyond financial compensation, researchers should emphasize confidentiality, offer testing and linkage with care, use several contact methods, aid transportation, and accommodate demographic differences to improve research participation and retention among rural PWUD.

Details

Title
A cross-sectional survey of potential factors, motivations, and barriers influencing research participation and retention among people who use drugs in the rural USA
Author
Hetrick, Angela T. 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Young, April M. 2 ; Elman, Miriam R. 3 ; Bielavitz, Sarann 4 ; Alexander, Rhonda L. 5 ; Brown, Morgan 1 ; Waddell, Elizabeth Needham 4 ; Korthuis, P. Todd 4 ; Lancaster, Kathryn E. 1 

1  The Ohio State University, Division of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, Columbus, USA (GRID:grid.261331.4) (ISNI:0000 0001 2285 7943) 
2  University of Kentucky, Department of Epidemiology, Lexington, USA (GRID:grid.266539.d) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8438); University of Kentucky, Center on Drug and Alcohol Research, Lexington, USA (GRID:grid.266539.d) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8438) 
3  Oregon Health & Science University-Portland State University School of Public Health, Portland, USA (GRID:grid.262075.4) (ISNI:0000 0001 1087 1481) 
4  Oregon Health & Science University-Portland State University School of Public Health, Portland, USA (GRID:grid.262075.4) (ISNI:0000 0001 1087 1481); Oregon Health & Science University, Department of Medicine, Section of Addiction Medicine, Portland, USA (GRID:grid.5288.7) (ISNI:0000 0000 9758 5690) 
5  University of Kentucky, Department of Epidemiology, Lexington, USA (GRID:grid.266539.d) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8438) 
Pages
948
Publication year
2021
Publication date
Dec 2021
Publisher
Springer Nature B.V.
e-ISSN
17456215
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-021-05919-w
ProQuest document ID
2812327323
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. corrected publication 2023. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.