ArticleThe International journal on drug policy2018
The perspectives of structurally vulnerable people who use drugs on volunteer stipends and work experiences provided through a drug user organization: Opportunities and limitations.
Article in The International journal on drug policy, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Mapping experiences of workplace stigma and discrimination within the lived-living experience of illicit drug use and bloodborne virus peer workforce: a scoping review.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Exploring drug consumption rooms as 'inclusion health interventions': policy implications for Europe.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Women who use drugs: engagement in practices of harm reduction care.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- The "goldfish bowl": a qualitative study of the effects of heightened surveillance on people who use drugs in a rural and coastal Canadian setting.Harm reduction journal · 2022Article
- "COVID just kind of opened a can of whoop-ass": The rapid growth of safer supply prescribing during the pandemic documented through an environmental scan of addiction and harm reduction services in Canada.The International journal on drug policy · 2022Article
- Impact of health system engagement on the health and well-being of people who use drugs: a realist review protocol.Systematic reviews · 2022Article
- Core competencies of peer workers who use pulse oximeters to supplement their overdose response in British Columbia.PloS one · 2022Article
- Using intervention mapping to develop 'ROSE': an intervention to support peer workers in overdose response settings.BMC health services research · 2021Article
- "It's a Bit of a Double-Edged Sword": Motivation and Personal Impact of Bereaved Mothers' Advocacy for Drug Policy Reform.Qualitative health research · 2021Article
- "People need them or else they're going to take fentanyl and die": A qualitative study examining the 'problem' of prescription opioid diversion during an overdose epidemic.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2021Article
- Essential work, precarious labour: The need for safer and equitable harm reduction work in the era of COVID-19.The International journal on drug policy · 2021Article
- "Running myself ragged": stressors faced by peer workers in overdose response settings.Harm reduction journal · 2021Article
- "And we just have to keep going": Task shifting and the production of burnout among overdose response workers with lived experience.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2021Article
- Employment Cessation, Long Term Labour Market Engagement and HIV Infection Risk Among People Who Inject Drugs in an Urban Canadian Setting.AIDS and behavior · 2019Article
- "We don't got that kind of time, man. We're trying to get high!": Exploring potential use of drug checking technologies among structurally vulnerable people who use drugs.The International journal on drug policy · 2019Article
- Peer worker involvement in low-threshold supervised consumption facilities in the context of an overdose epidemic in Vancouver, Canada.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWhile drug user organizations (DUO) have received public health attention as a means to potentially reduce the harms associated with drug use, there is a lack of research on the compensation and structural forces that promote or inhibit participation in DUO. Against the backdrop of structural vulnerability experienced by people who use drugs (PWUD), we examined the impact of monetary 'volunteer stipends' provided through a DUO and explore their role in providing low-threshold employment opportunities and shaping participation in DUO.
methodsParticipants were purposively sampled to reflect a range of perspectives and experiences volunteering at Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) and receiving stipends. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 23 members of VANDU. Interview transcripts were coded in Atlas.ti 7 for key a priori themes and emergent categories from the data and analyzed thematically.
resultsStipends provided participants with symbolic and material recognition of the time, effort, and expertise they contribute to the organization, and functioned to facilitate ongoing participation. Payments that rewarded, skills, labour and drug-related knowledge reduced participant's perception of stigma against PWUD. Paid work in VANDU further provided participants with non-material benefits commonly attributed to regular employment, including social connections and a sense of purpose. Participants also identified the low level of pay as a limitation of VANDU's paid participation program. The daily demands of survival (accessing shelter, food, and drugs) posed more complex structural vulnerabilities to participate in VANDU, as small stipends were not sufficient to address these needs.
conclusionLow threshold employment opportunities within DUO may provide significant individual and public health benefits. However, these benefits are constrained by the small size of stipends. Therefore, to ensure better inclusion of PWUD, our findings recommend the development and expansion of equitable, accessible, well-paying employment programs for PWUD.
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