OUTREACH AMONG DRUG-USERS - COMBINING THE ROLE OF ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELD ASSISTANT AND HEALTH EDUCATOR

Drug users remain the second largest group at risk for HIV infection in the United States. Public health messages distributed through traditional channels might not reach the ''different-to-reach'' population of drug users, Outreach has therefore become an essential strategy for contacting drug users with information about HIV. Outreach work among drug users is conducted in ways that are similar to methods applied by qualitatively oriented social scientists. The outreach workers, however, differ from the social scientists in that they are indigenous, which means that they are familiar with the communities in which they work; they are (former) drug users. Outreach workers have to respond to the competing demands from social scientists who are project administrators, and from drug users. This situation is likely to cause role conflict and strain. This paper will focus on the role of outreach workers, the potential for role conflict, and ways in which this conflict is resolved.