Ethnographic Methods In Accessing a Street- Recruited Community Based Sample of Crack Users in Mexico City

• In Event: 043 - Section on Alcohol, Drugs, and Tobacco Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Section on Alcohol, Drugs, and Tobacco Roundtables (one-hour). Table 01. Drugs: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?

Abstract

Introduction. The smoking of crack is a recent emerging phenomenon in Mexico City (referred to as México, Distrito Federal (DF). Data on treatment admissions indicate that in México DF these admissions increased from 8% in 2003 to approximately 40% in 2007. Limited information is available on the emergence, spread and characteristics of non-treatment drug using subpopulations. The paper provides practical and methodological strategies in entering high-risk communities and accessing and recruiting a community-based sample of 150 current crack users in Mexico DF. Methods. Data come from an on-going international research collaboration on drug abuse and addiction research between the University of Southern California and the Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz (INPRFM). The research team is conducting a social epidemiological study that identified and interviewed current crack users recruited in designated delegaciónes in México DF over a two-year period. Presented are the ethnographic strategies the research team utilized in training the field team, conducting neighborhood social mapping, building trust and rapport and recruiting a highly marginalized and hidden population. Results. Findings indicate that these ethnographic strategies are a reliable method for subject recruitment among drug-using international populations. Discussion. Discussed is how these strategies can be used to recruit similar non-institutionalized populations in international settings. This paper has important implications for research studies interested in understanding the emergence and diffusion of drug use patterns in underdeveloped countries.

Authors

• Alice Cepeda, University of Southern California

• Avelardo Valdez, University of Southern California

• Kathryn Marie Nowotny, University of Colorado-Boulder