Introduction

The ANAIDUS-Q is a structured interview which aims to obtain a "snap-shot" of an injecting drug user's (IDU) recent behaviour. The focus of the questions is on the actual reported behaviour of the subject in the month preceding the day of interview. In addition, the injecting and sexual behaviour sections have a series of questions relating to the last time the subject injected or had sex. Here again, the aim is to examine in detail what actually occurred in the recent past of the subject.

The ANAIDUS-Q was pilot tested on a sample of 100 IDU (60 males and 40 females), with a mean age of 27 years. Both subjects who were currently in treatment ( 41%) and those not currently in treatment were interviewed. It should be noted that the demographic characteristics of this sample are similar to those obtained in other Australian and international studies (e.g. Bell et al, 1990; Ross et al, 1991; Sasse et al, 1991; Skidmore et al, 1990). As a result of piloting, minor changes were made to some of the questions in the ANAIDUS-Q. The entire instrument was found to take approximately 45 minutes to complete.