Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Injecting drugs as a matter of care: Analyzing care work and action programs in risk management
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Public Health Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2473-6330
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2593-1931
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0856-9854
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Public Health Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-1757-9974
Number of Authors: 42025 (English)In: SSM - Qualitative Research in Health, ISSN 2667-3215, Vol. 8, article id 100616Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

In this article, we analyze the care work employed by people who inject drugs to counter risks in their life situations and make their drug use safer. Injecting drugs is associated with numerous health and social risks, such as overdose, the use of used and shared equipment, and getting caught by the police. We approach descriptions of injection events as narratives of care. Participants (N=32) were recruited for semi-structured interviews primarily from the Stockholm Needle and Syringe Exchange Program between August 2022 and March 2023. The sample is heterogeneous in terms of age, gender, drug use, and social situation. The interviews were analyzed using actor-network theory, asking what kind of care work and ‘action programs’ strengthen or weaken participants' capacities for safer injection events and what kinds allow risks – or antiprograms – to enter the event. We identified four different action programs based on home or public settings. They all aimed to increase capacities for safe drug use, but two of them were more vulnerable to risks. Their success depended on the type of actors they could recruit for care work, the risks they were targeting, and how well they coordinated actors to work together to minimize risks. The analysis highlights the scope, strengths, and limitations of care work in relation to material, social, political, and institutional actors, as well as the importance of access to proper resources such as a home, stable income, and a healthy body.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2025. Vol. 8, article id 100616
Keywords [en]
injecting drugs, interviews, risks, actor-network theory, care work, assemblage, action program
National Category
Sociology (Excluding Social Work, Social Anthropology, Demography and Criminology) Social Work Public Health, Global Health and Social Medicine
Research subject
Sociology; Social Work; Public Health Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-245583DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2025.100616Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105013630548OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-245583DiVA, id: diva2:1989296
Projects
Risks of injection drug use in a Swedish context: Prevention of harms in practice according to users, treatment staff, and societal actors
Funder
Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, 2021-01712Available from: 2025-08-15 Created: 2025-08-15 Last updated: 2025-08-26Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textScopusPublisher's full-text open access

Authority records

Törrönen, JukkaMånsson, JosefinSamuelsson, EvaStorbjörk, Jessica

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Törrönen, JukkaMånsson, JosefinSamuelsson, EvaStorbjörk, Jessica
By organisation
Department of Public Health SciencesDepartment of Social Work
Sociology (Excluding Social Work, Social Anthropology, Demography and Criminology)Social WorkPublic Health, Global Health and Social Medicine

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 80 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf