Quality Standards for On-Site Prevention for Drug Users in Berlin

1. Service organisation(s)

Fixpunkt e.V. www.fixpunkt.org

2. Authors

Matthias Frötschl
Thomas Schwarz
Kerstin Dettmer
Astrid Leicht
Hella von Unger

3. Scientific guidance

Berlin Social Science Centre (WZB); Research Group Public Health, Berlin www.wzb.eu

4. Preventive measure subjected to quality assurance

The target group of the prevention and addiction aid offered by Fixpunkt is drug users in Berlin. Fixpunkt operates in mobile teams at various gay venues (e.g. Kottbusser Tor, Bahnhof Zoo). Each team has a (specially fitted and equipped) bus, which is used to provide health and social counselling, syringe exchange and other services on site, including on-site prevention campaigns. HIV prevention is always part of more comprehensive addiction aid services and the basic social and medical care of the target group.

5. Aim of the quality assurance

The quality assurance was aimed at developing quality standards for on-site prevention campaigns in order to be able to make special prevention campaigns less expensive, conduct them more frequently and better estimate the time required.

6. What were the benefits of the quality assurance?

The quality standards help plan, implement and follow up large-scale prevention campaigns at the mobile on-site units. They provide an overview of the various steps, processes and responsibilities that need to be defined or observed.

The quality assurance provided benefits for:
Practical prevention work
Collaboration within the team
Collaboration with the target group

7. Methodology

The standards were developed by full-time Fixpunkt workers within the scope of three approx. 2-hour meetings on the basis of existing experience (“What is the procedure and what does it take for the individual steps to be implemented in a good and efficient manner?”). As far as possible, responsibilities and time units were defined for the individual steps.

8. Results of the quality assurance

We developed quality standards in visual form, which provide a better overview of the individual steps of preparation, implementation and follow-up of on-site prevention campaigns at the mobile units (see Standards). This also includes a check list for the equipment (see Check List).

9. Experience and tips

The joint development of the standards was helpful. However, it turned out that standardisation is of particular relevance for large-scale prevention campaigns, but not so important for smaller campaigns.

Visualisations are extremely helpful (e.g. with images, arrows and pins); they could be used to create a poster, which could be put up at a prominent place in the office to serve as a reminder.