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The Context of HIV Risk Among Drug Users and Their Sexual Partners

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Table 2 shows percentage agreement in answers across the two<br />

interviews. <strong>The</strong> figures indicate a reasonable degree <strong>of</strong> reliability,<br />

ranging from 77 percent to 90 percent. <strong>The</strong> behavior least reliably<br />

reported was borrowing <strong>of</strong> injection equipment (30-day indicator), with<br />

77 percent agreement. <strong>The</strong> most accurate measures were for the rarest<br />

behaviors such as anal intercourse, with only 12 <strong>and</strong> 2 respondents,<br />

respectively, reporting this behavior at either interview.<br />

Reliability <strong>of</strong> <strong>Sexual</strong> Behavior Reported by Heterosexual<br />

Couples<br />

Table 3 shows sexual data from 29 couples who reported mutually<br />

monogamous sexual behavior for the 30 days prior to entering drug<br />

treatment. <strong>The</strong> couples were identified discreetly by clinic intake workers<br />

<strong>and</strong> were not aware that a purpose <strong>of</strong> the study was to assess the<br />

reliability <strong>of</strong> self-reported sexual practices. Interpartner agreement about<br />

sexual practices was very close to agreement between the test <strong>and</strong> retest.<br />

<strong>The</strong> behavior least reliably reported was oral sex (79 percent), while there<br />

was complete agreement about whether the couple had been sexually<br />

abstinent.<br />

Respondents as Informants<br />

<strong>The</strong> lack <strong>of</strong> a gold st<strong>and</strong>ard for validating self-reports makes assessment<br />

<strong>of</strong> their accuracy difficult at best. Two attempts were made to validate<br />

self-reports <strong>of</strong> needle sharing that shed some light on the probable<br />

accuracy <strong>of</strong> the information given.<br />

<strong>The</strong> first was suggested by experiments conducted by Bradbum <strong>and</strong><br />

Sudman (1979) in which college students were interviewed about their<br />

own <strong>and</strong> their friends’ use <strong>of</strong> alcohol <strong>and</strong> marijuana. <strong>The</strong> assumption was<br />

made that the level <strong>of</strong> alcohol <strong>and</strong> marijuana actually used would be<br />

similar for respondents <strong>and</strong> friends. Analysis <strong>of</strong> the data, however,<br />

indicated overall that the students reported their friends used alcohol <strong>and</strong><br />

marijuana more <strong>of</strong>ten than they did themselves, suggesting that they may<br />

have underreported their own use. A further suggestion that self-reported<br />

use was less accurate was that the variances <strong>of</strong> measures <strong>of</strong> their own use<br />

were larger than for measures <strong>of</strong> their friends’.<br />

In the present study, in addition to asking respondents about their own<br />

borrowing <strong>of</strong> needles <strong>and</strong> syringes, they were asked whether they had<br />

observed others doing so during that time (past 30 days). While only<br />

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