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Complex lifestyle issues associated with injecting drug use may make it difficult to provide care to people who inject drugs (PWID). Negative attitudes towards PWID can undermine the provision of good quality care, hence, it is important to explore the impact of health workers' attitudes in the delivery of care to PWID. An online survey was administered to 336 health workers assessing contact with and attitudes towards PWID, concerns about these clients as well as whether health workers feel stigmatised by working with PWID. Health workers were also asked whether they supported the discriminatory behaviour of a colleague in a series of hypothetical scenarios about working with PWID. In correlational analyses, negative attitudes towards PWID, greater concerns about the behaviour of PWID, not feeling stigmatised by colleagues and seeing fewer clients who inject were associated with greater support for discriminatory actions in the hypothetical scenarios. Multiple regression analysis results showed that only attitudes towards PWID and concerns about the behaviour of injecting clients remain independent predictors of participant support for the hypothetical scenarios. This research highlights the role of attitudes toward PWID in understanding health workers' decisions, practices and potential behaviour.

A qualitative study of both hepatitis C treatment experiences and the management of hepatitis C treatment, using in-depth semi-structured interviews, was conducted in Sydney, Australia, during 2004 and 2005. The study aimed to uncover some of the strategies that people in treatment deployed to cope with the side effects associated with treatment. A purposive sampling frame was used to recruit participants to the study. A total of 20 people who either were receiving treatment or had completed treatment within the six months prior to interview were recruited. Six health professionals who managed treatment regimens were also interviewed. Treatment and its side effects were explored from the perspectives of both patients and clinic staff. The impact of treatment on personal relationships, work, socialising, physical and emotional health and wellbeing, sense of self and future outlook were investigated. Thematic content analysis highlighted key issues reported by patients and health professionals regarding treatment experiences and approaches to treatment management., Monograph 4/2006

The report explores exigent conditions associated with living with hepatitis C infection. Intersecting these demands are the effects of stigma and social marginalisation. Many people with hepatitis C have to navigate and negotiate daily a field strewn with misinformation, conflicting identities and unequal power relations, often while labouring under significant ill-health and surviving on low incomes., Monograph 6/2003