The purpose of this research is to better understand how PWUD aquire health and harm reduction information in order to make safety resources more easily accessable.
Literature Review
After my initial literature review I found that the problems faced by people who use drugs (PWUD) are multifaceted and require nuance and empathy to be properly addressed. PWUD face stigma and fear when trying to access resources about safe drug use, which influences their information seeking behaviors. Various harm reduction resources exist, however many structural and systemic obsticals impede use of these resources. Many PWUD are at higher risk of HIV, lacing, and overdose, but accessing resources about these risks comes with stigma, scrutiny, judgement, and potential cosequences like loss of shelter. Understanding the information seeking behaviors of PWUD allows us to better understand how we can ensure accurate, safe, useful information is accessable to communities of PWUD.
Research from the Harm Reduction Journal explore how PWUD information communities access health information focused around HIV.
Aside from acedemic sources, there are several online forums and resources that provide harm reduction information and materials. Many of the available online based resources are inaccessable to many PWUD due to the prerequisite knowlege and internet literacy required to find and identify resources. Many of these resources also come with flaws in accuracy due to the community based nature of these resources. The information on these forums can be useful and lifesaving to PWUD, however misinformation and medical myths can spread like wildfire through these communities and eventually into local PWUD communities. Many people who access harm reduction information on the internet also show privacy concerns opting to use anonymous accounts and anonymity tools for accessing this information. This is another prerequisite for seeking harm reduciton information. Understanding the information seeking behaviors of PWUD and the risks associated (ie misinformation and myths). If we understand the information seeking behaviors of PWUD we can place safe and accurate information in the places they see information. There is also a balance that must be struck between harm reduction and enabling. Often times harm reduction formums like “Dread” serve a dual purpose enabling access to drug marketplaces. On one hand, these market places allow for safe access to safe drugs and drug testing materials, but on the other hand this access could enable more frequent and extreme drug use and addiction. This creates a fine line to walk when sharing harm reduction resources and enabling the harm we intend to reduce. In order to properly balance this issue, the best thing we can do is collect and compile the safe and useful information into an single, easily accessible hub for PWUD.