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ID: HR19-46

Presenting author: Reece Cossar

Presenting author biography:

Reece commenced his Doctor of Psychology (Clincical and Forensic) in 2016, under the supervision of Professor James Ogloff from the Centre of Forensic Behavioural Science and Professor Mark Stoové from Burnet Institute. His work focuses on criminal trajectories reoffending and mental health in a population of people who inject drugs.

Describing client presentations at syringe dispensing machines in Melbourne, Australia: A novel method of data capture

Reece Cossar, Daniel O'Keefe, David Jacka, Paul Dietze

Background: An early adopter of needle and syringe programs (NSP), Australia ranks among the highest for global coverage estimates for sterile needle and syringe distribution to people who inject drugs (PWID). This high coverage is due, in part, to the variety of different NSP modalities, which includes syringe dispensing machines (SDMs). SDMs are discrete, electronic vending machines that provide sterile injecting equipment. However, the characteristics of SDM clients are uncertain. Methods: We describe day, time and demographic data recorded about clients accessing four SDMs in Melbourne, Australia and compare data drawn from these SDMs with data drawn from a primary fixed-site NSP to assess differences by access modality. Results: Between May 2017 and March 2018 there were 11,259 SDM and 8,470 NSP presentations recorded. Clients identifying as female accounted for 40% of SDM presentations compared to 24 per cent of NSP presentations, while presentations identifying non-binary gender (“other”) category accounted for 8 per cent of SDM presentations. More than half of the SDM clients recorded an age of 30 years or younger compared to 17 per cent of NSP presentations. Seventy-one per cent of SDM presentations occurred outside of NSP operating hours. Conclusion: Our results show that recorded client profiles differ between dispensing modality whereby SDM's may provide better NSP access for women, gender minorities and young PWID. Our findings demonstrate that SDMs do not only provide an alternate means of accessing sterile needles and syringes, particularly outside of fixed-site NSP operating hours, but they may also provide improved NSP access for key PWID sub-groups.