The role of employment cycles and incentives in the recruitment of drug users

Abstract

This study evaluates the role of monetary incentives in the recruitment of crack-cocaine and injection drug users into an AIDS prevention program in Anchorage, Alaska. The study also looks at how seasonality impacted recruitment of this population. Data from interviews with 1,427 out-of-treatment drug users were aggregated to monthly levels. Forty-seven months of data were used in the analysis. Independent variables included monthly income, source of income, employment status, self-reported homelessness, incentive paid at intake, potential incentive at follow-up, and data on the local unemployment rate. A dummy coded variable for seasonality also was included. Regression analysis was used to develop a model using number of individuals recruited each month as the dependent variable. Only one variable, the incentive paid at intake, was significant at p < .05. A strong interaction effect was found between the amount of the incentive paid at intake and seasonality. The chapter concludes that the use of monetary incentives has a positive effect on the recruitment of hidden populations.

Citation

Reynolds, G.L., Fisher, D.G., Cagle, H.H. and Johnson, M.E. (1999), "The role of employment cycles and incentives in the recruitment of drug users", Levy, J.A., Stephens, R.C. and McBride, D.C. (Ed.) Emergent Issues in the Field of Drug Abuse (Advances in Medical Sociology, Vol. 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 289-300. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1057-6290(00)80014-5