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Table 2 Demographic characteristics of 349 people who used drugs in 8 rural US studies, 2018–2020

From: Strategies used to reduce harms associated with fentanyl exposure among rural people who use drugs: multi-site qualitative findings from the rural opioid initiative

 

Total

Illinois

Kentucky

North Carolina

New England

Ohio

Oregon

Wisconsin

West Virginiaf

Interviewees (data sent by studies used)

349 (100%)

22 (6%)

57 (16%)

65 (19%)

22 (6%)

26 (7%)

52 (15%)

60 (17%)

45 (13%)

Malea

194 (64%)

14 (64%)

35 (61%)

34 (52%)

10 (45%)

15 (58%)

28 (54%)

33 (55%)

25 (56%)

Average age

36

37

35

36

33

37

39

35

38

Race

         

White

213 (61%)

20 (91%)

56 (98%)

15 (23%)

15 (68%)

not asked

49 (94%)

58 (97%)

(0%)

Black

2 (1%)

2 (9%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

–

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

Native American

8 (2%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

5 (8%)

1 (5%)

–

1 (2%)

1 (2%)

0 (0%)

Mixed race

5 (1%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

2 (3%)

0 (0%)

–

2 (4%)

1 (2%)

0 (0%)

Other

1 (0%)

0 (0%)

1 (2%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

–

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

Not given/Not askedb

120 (34%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

43 (66%)

6 (27%)

262 (100%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

45 (100%)

Interviewees (coded interview data used)

349 (100%)

22 (6%)

57 (16%)

65 (19%)

22 (6%)

26 (7%)

52 (15%)

60 (17%)

45 (13%)

Substance use

         

Ever IDU

331 (95%)

20 (91%)

57 (100%)

65 (100%)

21 (95%)

17 (65%)

52 (100%)

56 (93%)

43 (96%)

Current IDU

318 (91%)

19 (86%)

57 (100%)

65 (100%)

18 (82%)

15 (58%)

50 (96%)

55 (92%)

39 (87%)

Heroin

214 (61%)

8 (36%)

30 (53%)

51 (78%)

18 (82%)

13 (50%)

41 (79%)

34 (57%)

19 (42%)

Fentanyl

78 (22%)

1 (5%)

17 (30%)

26 (40%)

14 (64%)

3 (12%)

6 (12%)

6 (10%)

5 (11%)

Methamphetamine

225 (64%)

14 (64%)

37 (65%)

61 (94%)

4 (18%)

6 (23%)

47 (90%)

41 (68%)

15 (33%)

Other

226 (65%)

4 (18%)

54 (95%)

61 (94%)

15 (68%)

10 (38%)

21 (40%)

28 (47%)

33 (73%)

Surveyed Intervieweesc (survey data used)

144 (100%)

22 (15%)

23 (16%)

23 (16%)

16 (11%)

NA

NA

60 (42%)

NA

Substance use

         

Current (Past 30 days)

143 (100%)

22 (100%)

23 (100%)

23 (100%)

16 (100%)

NA

NA

59 (98%)

NA

Recruited by

         

Service or program staff

6 (4%)

2 (9%)

0 (0%)

4 (17%)

0 (0%)

NA

NA

0 (0%)

NA

Other

83 (58%)

11 (50%)

14 (61%)

9 (39%)

14 (88%)

NA

NA

35 (58%)

NA

Not indicated

55 (38%)

9 (41%)

9 (39%)

10 (43%)

2 (13%)

NA

NA

25 (42%)

NA

Interviewees (data sent by studies used)

304 (100%)

22 (7%)

57 (19%)

65 (21%)

22 (7%)

26 (9%)

52 (17%)

60 (20%)

NA

Education

         

 < High school

56 (18%)

1 (5%)

21 (37%)

13 (20%)

3 (14%)

7 (27%)

not asked

11 (18%)

not asked

H.S. or GED

97 (32%)

11 (50%)

22 (39%)

21 (32%)

9 (41%)

11 (42%)

–

23 (38%)

–

Some college

61 (20%)

7 (32%)

6 (11%)

20 (31%)

3 (14%)

6 (23%)

–

19 (32%)

–

Assoc/trade deg

16 (5%)

3 (14%)

8 (14%)

0 (0%)

1 (5%)

0 (0%)

–

4 (7%)

–

 >  = B.A

12 (4%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

8 (12%)

0 (0%)

1 (4%)

–

3 (5%)

–

Not answeredd

62 (20%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

3 (5%)

6 (27%)

1 (4%)

52d (100%)

0 (0%)

–

Income Source

         

Full-time work (40 h/wk)

44 (14%)

not asked

6 (11%)

13 (20%)

0 (0%)

10 (38%)

not asked

15 (25%)

not asked

Part-time work

26 (9%)

–

6 (11%)

7 (11%)

2 (9%)

1 (4%)

–

10 (17%)

–

Retirement check

2 (1%)

–

2 (4%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

–

0 (0%)

–

Public assistance check – like TANF, AFDC etc

29 (10%)

–

29 (51%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

–

0 (0%)

–

Disability check, like SSI, military or other

19 (6%)

–

0 (0%)

10 (15%)

4 (18%)

1 (4%)

–

4 (7%)

–

Selling drugs

4 (1%)

–

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

1 (5%)

0 (0%)

–

3 (5%)

–

Selling sex

1 (0%)

–

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

–

1 (2%)

–

Theft, shoplifting etc

3 (1%)

–

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

1 (5%)

0 (0%)

–

2 (3%)

–

Someone supports me

15 (5%)

–

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

2 (9%)

0 (0%)

–

13 (22%)

–

Other

12 (4%)

–

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

6 (27%)

1 (4%)

–

5 (8%)

–

Unemployed

59 (19%)

–

13 (23%)

34 (52%)

0 (0%)

12 (46%)

–

0 (0%)

–

Missinge

90 (30%)

22e (100%)

1 (2%)

1 (2%)

6 (27%)

1 (4%)

52e (100%)

7 (12%)

–

  1. aOne interviewee from OR identified as “Neither”male of female
  2. bSome NC and NE interviewees did not give their race/ethnicity. OH did not ask interviewees their race/ethnicity
  3. cSome, but not all, participants completed a quantitative survey before their interview
  4. dOR did not ask interviewees about education
  5. eIL and OR did not ask interviewees about income source. WI had 4 “Refuse to answer and 3 “Don’t know” responses. KY, NC, NE and OH had interviewees who did not answer the question
  6. fWV did not ask questions about race, ethnicity, or education
  7. gEthnicity data (e.g., Hispanic, non-Hispanic) was not collected
  8. hUnited States abbreviations are as follows: Illinois (IL), Kentucky (KY), North Carolina (NC), New England (NE, including Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont), Ohio (OH), Oregon (OR), Wisconsin (WI), West Virginia (WV)
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Harm Reduction Journal

ISSN: 1477-7517