Healthcare beliefs, health information seeking, and healthcare setting preferences among women who inject drugs by community supervision status

Abstract

Objective: Women on community supervision who inject drugs have significant unmet healthcare needs. However, it remains unclear how the intersection of community supervision and injection drug use influences healthcare experiences and service setting preferences. The present study examines whether the intersection of community supervision and injection drug use is associated with differences in women’s healthcare beliefs, healthcare experiences, and service setting preferences. Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted on a previously collected sample of women who inject drugs recruited from a syringe exchange and social service organization for a cross-sectional survey. Participants (N = 64) were mostly White (75%), and more than a quarter were currently on probation or parole (26%). Results: Independent samples t-tests and chi-square tests revealed no significant differences on sociodemographic variables by community supervision status. There were no significant differences by community supervision status across seven indicators of healthcare confidence (ps >.05). However, results revealed significant differences in past experiences and beliefs about healthcare, health information seeking, and healthcare setting preferences by community supervision status (ps