NASEN will only collaborate with researchers that adhere to the following criteria:
1) the research must contribute to and further the discourse regarding syringe exchange and Harm Reduction;
and 2) there must be a tangible benefit (i.e., compensation) provided to the individual(s) and/or the organizations that participate in the research.
NASEN does not require participation in research as a condition of Buyers Club membership or for listing on the NASEN SSP Directory. Participation is entirely voluntary.
Pictured from left to right first row: Dave Purchase, Rod Sorge, Dan Bigg, Stephanie Comer, Sara Kershnar, Charles Collins, Jon Paul Hammond second row: facilitator, Pat Garrett, Ricky Bluthenthal, Renee Edgington, Edith Springer, Joyce Rivera, Lisa Moore third row: Scott Stokes, George Clark, Delia Garcia, Heather Edney, Mark Gerse, Kevin Zeese, Gerald Lenoir
Tammi Alvey Thomas, a doctoral student from the University of Louisville Kent School of Social Work is trying to complete her IRB approved dissertation research. The purpose of the research is to explore the perspectives of service providers on facilitators and barriers to needle exchange program participation by females who inject drugs. She is interested in feedback from NEP personnel in Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Ohio, West Virginia and Illinois. These states were selected because they are believed to be the most heavily impacted from the opioid epidemic and the consequences of injection drug use. There is limited research on females who inject drugs and needle exchange programs and this study will assist in filling an important gap and may directly benefit your community.
The survey should take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. The survey can be completed electronically at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/259DMZQ.
If you have any questions, Tammi can be contacted at tammi.thomas@louisville.edu
Project NEXUS is a survey of people who use drugs at 6 syringe services programs across the U.S. The aim of this survey is to learn more about the health, substance use behaviors, HIV/HCV prevalence, and access to and use of prevention services among people who use drugs – especially in non-urban areas of the country that are not typically included in large surveys. SSPs will be randomly selected and invited to participate. Project sites will enroll up to 300 participants in a 30-minute survey with HIV and HCV testing. SSPs will be financially supported to implement the survey, and all participants will receive an incentive for completing the survey and HIV/HCV testing.
On February 23, 2021, RTI International, in collaboration with the North American Syringe Exchange Network (NASEN) and the National Harm Reduction Coalition (NHRC) launched an SSP Policy survey. Funded by the National Institutes on Drug Abuse and Arnold Ventures, the goal of the survey is to understand which state-level policies and initiatives are associated with uptake and delivery of naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and buprenorphine treatment through syringe service programs in the United States.
For this study, we will field national surveys of SSPs over the next three years. Similar to our 2019 survey, this survey will be relatively short. Survey responses are kept confidential, and after completing this survey, we compensate organizations $75.
The survey will be available on-line until June 30, 2021 and can be accessed via this link: https://survey.rti.org/SE/1/SSP/
You may have already received an invitation to complete this study via email or a listserv. Please only complete the survey once.
Thank you for considering participating in our study,
Barrot Lambdin, Ricky Bluthenthal, Alex Kral, Hansel Tookes, Lynn Wenger, NHRC and NASEN.
Organized syringe service in the US began when Dave Purchase set a TV dinner table on a street in Tacoma, WA in 1988. The number of programs grew rapidly over the next several years and NASEN was founded in 1992. NASEN began holding an annual conference for information exchange and mutual support by programs. The plenary talk at these initial conferences was entitled “syringe exchange in the known universe,” and provided information on SEP activities in the US and both national and international research on SEPs.
With the continuing growth of SEPs in the US, it became clear that a formal mechanism for collecting information about SEPs in the country was needed to inform the SEP community, public health departments, and the US government. In 1994, NASEN and the Chemical Dependency research unit of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City initiated the first annual National Syringe Exchange Survey with funding from amFAR.
The survey has provided information on the numbers of syringe service programs, their organizational characteristics, the numbers of syringes distributed and other services provided by the programs. The information has been used to inform the public and public officials of the critical importance of the programs, and to obtain funding for the programs. One important function of the annual surveys has been to document the evolution of the programs into multi-service organizations that address the many health and social service needs of people who use drugs in the US.
The National Syringe Exchange Survey was renamed as the Dave Purchase Memorial Survey after Dave’s passing.
The opioid epidemic, the overdose epidemic, COVID-19 pandemic, and increasing federal support for drug user health have created new challenges and opportunities for SSPs in the US. The Dave Purchase Memorial Survey will continue to collect, analyze and provide information to the SSP community and to public health officials during these interesting times.
Don Des Jarlais