Experiences of injecting drugs, alcohol use and hepatitis C in Merseyside: Barriers to hepatitis C support
type: CreativeWork
description: Hepatitis C is a blood borne virus affecting the liver. In the UK, approximately 214,000 people are infected with the hepatitis C virus. Hepatitis C disproportionally affects marginalised populations and in the UK sharing equipment used to inject drugs is the main risk factor for hepatitis C infection. Despite there being treatments for hepatitis C, many do not access it or indeed get tested, leading to deaths from complications of hepatitis C such as end stage liver disease or hepatocarcinoma. The World Health Organization’s target to eliminate viral hepatitis as a major public health threat by 2030, has led to calls for action to increase access to hepatitis C testing and treatment. To increase uptake of testing and treatment, an understanding of the current barriers to access is required. Historically, alcohol and injecting drug use have been barriers to receiving treatment. Alcohol is also regarded as problematic as it expedites the progression of hepatitis C. There is however a paucity of research on experiences of alcohol use in People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) who have hepatitis C. The aim of this research was to gain an understanding of the experiences, practices and meanings of alcohol for people living with hepatitis C and to understand their needs and support requirements. Being qualitative in nature, this research took an explorative, inductive approach, allowing emerging themes to lead the direction of the research. The starting point was observation of hepatitis C support groups and interviews with people who have/had hepatitis C (services users, n=21), leading onto interviews with professionals (n=12) working in drug, alcohol and hepatitis C services. A multi-methods approach was used. Service user interviews were life history interviews, using a calendar method, and for the interviews with professionals, vignettes about hypothetical services users and semi structured interviews were used. Data were analysed using a combination of approaches. For the in…
abstract: Hepatitis C is a blood borne virus affecting the liver. In the UK, approximately 214,000 people are infected with the hepatitis C virus. Hepatitis C disproportionally affects marginalised populations and in the UK sharing equipment used to inject drugs is the main risk factor for hepatitis C infection. Despite there being treatments for hepatitis C, many do not access it or indeed get tested, leading to deaths from complications of hepatitis C such as end stage liver disease or hepatocarcinoma. The World Health Organization’s target to eliminate viral hepatitis as a major public health threat by 2030, has led to calls for action to increase access to hepatitis C testing and treatment. To increase uptake of testing and treatment, an understanding of the current barriers to access is required. Historically, alcohol and injecting drug use have been barriers to receiving treatment. Alcohol is also regarded as problematic as it expedites the progression of hepatitis C. There is however a paucity of research on experiences of alcohol use in People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) who have hepatitis C. The aim of this research was to gain an understanding of the experiences, practices and meanings of alcohol for people living with hepatitis C and to understand their needs and support requirements. Being qualitative in nature, this research took an explorative, inductive approach, allowing emerging themes to lead the direction of the research. The starting point was observation of hepatitis C support groups and interviews with people who have/had hepatitis C (services users, n=21), leading onto interviews with professionals (n=12) working in drug, alcohol and hepatitis C services. A multi-methods approach was used. Service user interviews were life history interviews, using a calendar method, and for the interviews with professionals, vignettes about hypothetical services users and semi structured interviews were used. Data were analysed using a combination of approaches. For the in…
author: Evely, J
keywords: RA Public aspects of medicine, RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
date published: 2020-03
date modified: 2026-07-24T06:30:31Z
provider: Liverpool Jon Moores University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Liverpool John Moores University

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.24377/LJMU.t.00012501