The association between psychosocial and structural-level stressors and HIV injection drug risk behavior among Malaysian fishermen: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Malaysian fishermen have been identified as a key-affected HIV population with HIV rates 10 times higher than national rates. A number of studies have identified that psychosocial and structural-level stressors increase HIV injection drug risk behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to examine psychosocial and structural-level stressors of injection drug use and HIV injection drug risk behaviors among Malaysian fishermen. METHODS: The study employs a cross-sectional design using respondent driven sampling methods. The sample includes 406 fishermen from Pahang state, Malaysia. Using multivariate logistic regressions, we examined the relationship between individual (depression), social (adverse interactions with the police), and structural (poverty-related) stressors and injection drug use and risky injection drug use (e.g.., receptive and non-receptive needle sharing, frontloading and back-loading, or sharing drugs from a common container). RESULTS: Participants below the poverty line had significantly lower odds of injection drug use (OR 0.52, 95 % CI: 0.27-0.99, p = 0.047) and risky injection drug use behavior (OR 0.48, 95 % CI: 0.25-0.93, p = 0.030). In addition, participants with an arrest history had higher odds of injection use (OR 19.58, 95 % CI: 9.81-39.10, p < 0.001) and risky injection drug use (OR 16.25, 95 % CI: 4.73-55.85, p < 0.001). Participants with depression had significantly higher odds of engaging in risky injection drug use behavior (OR 3.26, 95 % 1.39-7.67, p = 0.007). Focusing on participants with a history of injection drug use, we found that participants with depression were significantly more likely to engage in risky drug use compared to participants below the depression cutoff (OR 3.45, 95 % CI: 1.23-9.66, p < 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Findings underscore the need to address psychosocial and structural-level stressors among Malaysian fishermen to reduce HIV injection drug risk behaviors. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3125-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.