Skip to main content

Table 2 Semi-structured interview guide

From: “I feel like marijuana is the only drug that wouldn’t kill me”: perceptions of cannabis use in previously incarcerated Black men who have sex with other men

Section

Question

Family history

1. Please tell me about your life growing up

2. How would you describe your current relationship with your parents/siblings?

3. How has your family responded, if at all, to your same sex contact?

Current living situation

1. Tell me about your current living situation

2. How do you get by?

3. If there are any, please tell me about other significant events in your life

Personal drug usage

1. Describe your first drug use

2. Describe your first use opioids

3. What was going on in your life at that time?

4. How did the way you use or used opioids (substance and route of administration) change over time?

5. How were you first introduced to injecting?

6. If you used opioids, but avoided injecting, why? How did you make that decision and how did you stick to it?

7. Tell me about times you were tempted to start injecting. What stopped you?

8. Tell me about your experiences with drug treatment

9. What would your ideal drug treatment program look like?

10. Please tell more about your preference for some drugs over others

11. How have you drug using circles changed over time?

12. For those who have never used opioids:

(a.) Tell me about your familiarity with opioids. What has kept you from trying them? If you are avoiding them on purpose, why?

(b.) What personal experiences have you had with opioid users in your life?

(c.) How important is it to you not to use opioids?

(d.) What does it take to avoid using opioids?

Withdrawal

1. Describe any withdrawal symptoms that you have related to the drugs you use. Tell me how you managed pain related to withdrawals

2. If you decided to quit the drug, was your ability to quit the drug limited by your withdrawals? Walk me through your thought process

3. How were your schedule and day-to-day activities affected by withdrawal symptoms?

4. Can you count on your social network contacts to help you with withdrawals?

Experiences in jail/prison

1. Have you ever used alcohol or other drugs while in jail?

2. How has incarcerated impacted your drug use?

3. Do periods of incarceration lead you to use more or less drugs once you are out? Why?

4. Has your drug using network changed due to incarceration?

5. What aspects, if any, of being incarcerated help you control your drug use?

6. In general, how does being incarcerated impact you? Emotionally? Housing? Employment? HIV risk?

7. How does being in MSM segregation housing impact your experience of incarceration?

8. How does being in general population impact your experience of incarceration?

Relapse

1. Had you ever quit injecting drugs for a period of time? How long was that period of time?

2. How long did it take you to relapse?

3. In what setting did you relapse?

4. Describe what you were thinking and feeling at the time before you relapsed, and immediately after the relapse