Community Level Data and Estimates
Below are all SHaRP resources related to community level data and estimates.
Article: Is your syringe service program cost-savings to society? A methodological case study
This article was written by the SHaRP team for SSPs to consider how to calculate if their efforts are creating cost-savings by reducing HIV infections. The abstract or overview of the paper is featured below. The article is linked below and can also be found here.
Estimating Individual Syringe Coverage at Syringe Services Programs
The purpose of this guidance is to help syringe services programs (SSPs) in collecting and analyzing data on individual syringe coverage for their participants. Syringe coverage is an indicator that can help SSPs and other stakeholders estimate if people who inject drugs have enough syringes to reduce risks of infections and vein damage. This guidance is focused on calculating syringe coverage for the participants of one program and for sub-groups of participants of a program (e.g. participants who are unhoused). Health departments and researchers who work with SSPs could use this information to meaningfully engage with harm reduction staff to survey people who inject drugs and assess resource gaps.
Institutional Review Board (IRB) Guidance for Harm Reduction Programs
This document is to help harm reduction programs understand what an Institutional Review Board (IRB) is, what IRBs do, and when to submit a data collection plan to an IRB. We provide an overview of IRBs, explain what it means to collect data from human subjects, discuss the benefits of using an IRB, offer ways to access an IRB, and tell you what to expect when submitting for IRB review.
Measuring Syringe Coverage at SSPs: An Indicator for Equity and Needs-Based Distribution
On July 20, 2023, NASTAD hosted a webinar for the University of Washington Supporting Harm Reductions Programs team, “Measuring Syringe Coverage at SSPs: An Indicator for Equity and Needs-Based Distribution.” During this webinar, UW SHaRP shared tools and tips for syringe services programs interested in measuring syringe coverage among their program participants.
Syringe coverage is an indicator that can help SSPs estimate if their participants have enough syringes to use a new syringe for each injection. While distribution of different types of supplies is important for SSPs (including smoking and snorting supplies), syringe coverage is one measure that may help programs examine if they are distributing supplies equitably among all populations. They introduced the best practice of needs-based syringe distribution and discussed barriers to a needs-based policy. They also discussed the potential to use data, including syringe coverage, to make internal changes that reflect these recommendations.
Population Size Estimation of People Who Inject Drugs: An Overview of Methodologies
This document provides an overview of the different methods and considerations for estimating the size of the population who injects drugs. It is primarily intended for local health departments, academia, and other community-based organizations.
SSP Indicators Implementation Guide: Brief to Funders
One of the guiding principles of this toolkit is minimizing data collection wherever possible, to respect the autonomy of participants, and to minimize barriers to access services. We acknowledge that harm reduction funders have rationale for collecting certain data from funding recipients, including facing their own requirements for specific data and a desire to evaluate their own efforts. However, disparate and potentially unethical requirements have a substantive impact on programs, and in particular, programs with relatively fewer resources. The below resource includes some suggested considerations for funders of harm reduction services as they implement new or explore alternate methods for collecting data from funding recipients.
Summary of the Evidence for Needs-Based Syringe Distribution
This summarizes the peer-reviewed evidence that supports needs-based syringe distribution (up until July, 2023) for SSPs, stakeholders, or governmental officials looking to support or build support for allowing needs-based distribution. It also includes a section on tips on messaging. A recording of a webinar that covers this, and estimating syringe coverage, can be found here.
Using M&E to Better Serve Your Community: A Four-Part Webinar Series for Health Departments and SSPs
in collaboration with the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO). These webinars, held over the course of 2021 and 2022 covered topics including client-centered models for M&E, statewide data systems, data dashboards for M&E, and the launch of the Point in Time Survey Toolkit.