Published in:
01-04-2018 | The Global Epidemic (SH Vermund, Section Editor)
Network-Based Research on Rural Opioid Use: an Overview of Methods and Lessons Learned
Published in: Current HIV/AIDS Reports | Issue 2/2018
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Purpose of Review
The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough overview of methods used for recruitment, network data collection, and network data management in a network-based study of rural people who use drugs (PWUD) and to offer methodological recommendations for future research on rural drug use.
Recent Findings
The Social Networks among Appalachian People (SNAP) study recruited a cohort of 503 rural PWUD via respondent-driven sampling (RDS) and has retained more than 80% of eligible participants over 7–9 years. SNAP has yielded important methodological insights, including that (1) RDS referral was non-random and disproportionately involved kin and (2) interviewer-administered questionnaires were successful in eliciting accurate name and age information about network members.
Summary
The SNAP experience suggests that RDS was a successful recruitment strategy for rural PWUD and questionnaires administered by community-based interviewers in the context of a Certificate of Confidentiality could elicit detailed data on PWUD risk networks.