Health workers' support for hepatitis C treatment uptake among clients with a history of injecting.
Hepatitis C virus is stigmatised because of its association with injecting drug use. Although treatment is available, uptake remains low, especially among people who inject drugs. Ninety health workers completed a survey assessing attitudes towards people who inject drugs and support for treatment for three client scenarios: one who stopped injecting, one on methadone, and one continuing to inject. Support for hepatitis C virus treatment was significantly higher, where the client was not injecting. Participants who showed more negative attitudes towards people who inject drugs were less supportive of clients entering hepatitis C virus treatment, illustrating the influence of health workers' attitudes in determining treatment options offered to clients.
1 UNSW Australia, Australia.
Loren
L
Brener
2 The University of Queensland, Australia.
Courtney
C
von Hippel
1 UNSW Australia, Australia.
Hannah
H
Wilson
1 UNSW Australia, Australia.
Max
M
Hopwood
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009517:New South Wales; D057545:Social Stigma; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous
discrimination; health workers; hepatitis C; injecting drug use; stigma; treatment