Evaluation of the efficacy of whatsapp through a harm reduction intervention group for injecting drug users

Abstract

This study aims to analyse the use of an instant messaging app (WhatsApp®) as a means of communication for reaching people who inject drugs. An eight-week prospective longitudinal and observational study with three observations was designed for five addiction centres in Catalonia. The participants were 105 people who inject drugs, distributed in five intervention groups. The results of the Risk Assessment Battery (RAB) were compared in the three levels of analysis pre-test, post intervention and one month after the intervention. The main results indicate a significative reduction in RAB scores after the intervention. The main conclusion was that the WhatsApp® intervention has great potential for developing harm reduction interventions and to reduce the HIV contagion risk.