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Biomedical subjects

J Koger

Publications and source records attributed to J Koger.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Outcomes of an AIDS prevention program for methadone patients.

Methadone maintenance patients are at risk of contracting or transmitting HIV through intravenous drug use and/or unsafe sexual practices. An outcome evaluation of a voluntary AIDS prevention program for methadone patients in three clinics (two experimental, one control) is reported. The prevention program included three components: didactic AIDS education, HIV antibody counseling/testing, and facilitated peer support groups. Participation in AIDS education was associated with increased knowledge of AIDS risks and with improved attitudes toward condoms. Peer group participation was associated with improved attitudes toward the use of condoms and with increased use of condoms. Learning of HIV seronegativity was related to increased self-efficacy and decreased intravenous drug use risk behaviors. Rates of participation in the prevention program were disappointing, but the program seemed beneficial for those patients who did become involved.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1990

Reactions of methadone patients to HIV antibody testing.

The emotional and behavioral responses of methadone patients to HIV antibody testing were examined by comparing 8 seropositives with 8 matched seronegatives. Seropositives displayed a wide range of immediate emotional reactions to learning their results, but no severe or damaging reactions; seronegatives were uniformly relieved. Almost all patients informed other persons of their serostatus with unremarkable consequences. Seropositives had higher anxiety than seronegatives at the 3-month follow-up, but behavioral outcomes were similar, tending towards reduced AIDS risk. The sample's program retention rate one year later was 94%.

AIDS Serodiagnosis↗
PubMed1981

A study of SCL-90 scores of 264 methadone patients in treatment.

The SCL-90, a psychiatric symptom test, was administered to 264 methadone maintenance treatment program clients. Although patients generally had levels of distress comparable with psychiatric patient populations, no relation between the level of symptom distress and patient performance was found. Female patients were significantly more disturbed than male patients. Sixty-three percent of the patient population scored above the normal level of symptom distress, with scores highest in the depression and paranoid scales. The findings call for reappraisal of the supposed links between psychopathology and patient performance in methadone patients, and underscore the usefulness of the SCL-90 in identifying general levels of symptom distress among methadone patients. The SCL-90 is also useful in highlighting patient subgroups, such as female patients, who are in particular distress.

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed1979

Methadone evaluation: some additional thoughts.

This study of 460 patients showed that the 37% of the patients who were terminated as program failures did significantly worse than the active patients in terms of drug abuse, criminality, and social productivity. These findings suggest that methadone maintenance is at best a marginally effective modality for those large numbers of patients who drop out. Assuming that it is preferable for these dropouts to be on a program rather than on the streets, methadone maintenance treatment programs probably need to be more flexible so as to retain a larger number of these dropouts.

Crime↗
PubMed1978

Methadone and criminality: a suburban perspective.

In a suburban methadone program, using official police records, a study was made of patients' arrest records before and after methadone treatment. Eighty patients were willing to allow the researchers to secure their arrest records. These 80 patients were similar to the total clinic population of 226 in terms of demographic variables, arrest records, and addiction history. For these 80 patients both the rate of arrest and the number of patients arrested declined in association with entering methadone maintenance treatment. The decline was statistically significant for drug-related offenses but not for nondrug-related offenses. Overall, the decline in both rate of arrest and number of patients arrested was significant, but this was due to the decrease in drug-related arrests. Drug-related arrests play a dominant role in the criminality of the suburban patients in this study. Because of this, the reduction in drug-related arrests is more significant for this group of patients than it would have been for an inner-city patient population.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Correlates of participation in AIDS education and HIV antibody testing by methadone patients.

The authors examined the factors associated with methadone patients' decisions about participating in a clinic-based AIDS prevention protocol. Despite the offer of incentives, only 27 percent attended AIDS education and only 12 percent obtained voluntary HIV antibody (ab) testing. However, AIDS education was attended by proportionately more of those who were at highest risk for AIDS because of current intravenous drug use. The availability of HIV-ab testing neither encouraged nor discouraged participation in AIDS education. Patients who were relatively more likely to choose HIV-ab testing were older, had been or were married, had plans to have children, believed the test to be useful, and believed that their counselors support their decision to be tested. Those who declined to be tested were reluctant to confront the emotional aspects of their risk status, were concerned about possible breaches of confidentiality, and doubted the value of testing. The implications of the findings for implementing AIDS prevention measures in methadone programs are discussed. Programs need either to require attendance at AIDS education or give patients an incentive to attend. HIV-ab testing should be available but should remain voluntary. A stronger medical rationale for testing is developing and may increase future participation. Methadone programs must continue to engage patients actively in AIDS risk reduction efforts.

AIDS Serodiagnosis↗