What happens when she isn’t incarcerated?
NIDA/NIH 1R15DA056285-01, (PI Smoyer) Project Title: Impact of COVID-19 Criminal-Legal Practices on HIV Risk among Women Who Use Drugs: A Multi-Methods Qualitative Exploration, 05/01/2022 – 04/30/2025
Click here to Visit the SHAWN Website
The number of people incarcerated at the York Correctional Institution, CT’s only women’s prison, dropped 43% during COVID-19 (03/20-03/21).
Specific Aims:
Specific Aim #1: PROVIDE undergraduate students the opportunity to gain significant experience with community engaged research.
Project team includes undergraduates in partnership with community consultants who have been personally impacted by incarceration and drug use.
Students will meet regularly with the PI and consultants, conduct 12 interviews, lead a digital storytelling project, analyze data, author papers, and disseminate findings.
Specific Aim #2: IDENTIFY the pre-COVID-19 HIV risk behaviors and protective factors of justice-involved women who use drugs.
Thirty (30) qualitative life history interviews.
The purpose is to describe women’s lived experiences and HIV risk prior to COVID-19, creating a baseline understanding about their psychosocial conditions and interactions with criminal-legal systems.
Specific Aim #3: DOCUMENT and ASSESS HIV risk during COVID-19 among justice-involved women who use drugs.
Calendar-based interviews will be conducted with the same sample of women who participated in the life history interviews to understand their HIV risk and interactions with criminal-legal systems during COVID-19.
Digital stories produced by a subset of participants about their lives during COVID-19 will triangulate calendar data and offer a creative tool for sharing findings with community.
Shawn Lang (1956-2021)
This project’s name, SHAWN, honors the legacy of Shawn Lang (1956-2021) who was a tireless advocate for HIV care and prevention services in Connecticut and around the globe.
Shawn’s mentorship and leadership shaped the career development of the PI on this study, Dr. Amy Smoyer, and the lives of all those who had the privilege to work with her.
Her vision is reflected in the project’s framework which centers the expertise and knowledge of people with lived experience. The focus on women and people who inject drugs aligns with Shawn’s persistent and unflinching focus on marginalized communities, gender equality, anti-racism practices, and harm reduction programs, especially housing and syringe exchange.
For more information about Shawn and her legacy, please read her obituary, visit the Shawn Lang Task Force at AIDS CT website, or google her name!