Understanding the Perspectives of Women Who Use Intravenous Drugs and are Experiencing Homelessness in an Urban Centre in Canada: An Analysis of Ethnographic Data

Abstract

Injection drug use has long been a topic of investigation, whether through a health or criminal justice lens. Whilst these bodies of literature offer important perspectives, missing from the extant literature is evidence, particularly involving women who use drugs, and more specifically evidence about the health beliefs of these women. To address this knowledge gap, we undertook an ethnographic study of homeless women in downtown Ottawa who inject drugs. This included interviews, observations, and artifact analyses. In this paper, we report on these ethnographic data to show the context and nature of the subjective lives of women who use injection drugs and their beliefs and perspectives on health. We use these data to make recommendations for nursing and healthcare practice moving forward.

Homelessness in the Perinatal Period and Associations With Reproductive Interconception Care: 2016-2019 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System

“…Our findings may suggest difficulty among women experiencing homelessness with making health care appointments, consistent with previous research on women and other people experiencing homelessness. [29][30][31][32] The unique experiences of unstable housing may affect maternal postpartum visit attendance; further research is needed to assess whether the interconception period may be an opportune time to facilitate improvements in maternal outcomes for this population. Future studies should integrate our quantitative findings with qualitative data to provide a perspective directly from women experiencing homelessness and pregnancy and to identify barriers and facilitators to reproductive interconception care.…”

The experiences of people who use injection drugs with accessing hepatitis c testing and diagnosis in western countries: A scoping review

“…Participants also had experiences of confusion when receiving their diagnoses (Copeland, 2004;Cullen et al, 2005;Faye & Irurita, 2003;Khaw et al, 2007;Lally et al, 2008;Rhodes et al, 2004;Southgate et al, 2005;Strauss et al, 2008;Sutton & Treloar, 2007;Swan et al, 2010;Temple-Smith et al, 2004;Tompkins et al, 2005). These findings from 2014 (Jones et al, 2014) to 2021 (Krzeczkowska et al, 2021) HCPs, there is evidence specifying that women who use injection drugs experience additional barriers, which are unique to their characteristics of their IDU and their identities as a woman (Bornstein et al, 2020;Canada FASD Research Network's Action Team, 2014;Deacon et al, 2013; For the Kitson & O'Byrne, 2020;Kitson et al, 2022;Mehrabadi et al, 2008;Watts et al, 2021;Wurcel et al, 2018). The lack of supporting contextual data demonstrate that the focus is on their IDU status;…”

“…Female participants only contributed to about one‐third of the samples across four studies, with nearly four‐fifths identifying as Caucasian. While PWID of all genders are at risk of HCV transmission and poor treatment from HCPs, there is evidence specifying that women who use injection drugs experience additional barriers, which are unique to their characteristics of their IDU and their identities as a woman (Bornstein et al., 2020; Canada FASD Research Network's Action Team, 2014; Deacon et al., 2013; For the Kitson & O'Byrne, 2020; Kitson et al., 2022; Mehrabadi et al., 2008; Watts et al., 2021; Wurcel et al., 2018). The lack of supporting contextual data demonstrate that the focus is on their IDU status; other minority groups within the IDU community are unseen (Crenshaw, 1991), thus reducing their visibility when advancing services, interventions, and policies for HCV testing.…”