“You have to love the party setting”: an ethnography of the blurred lines between roles and experiential knowledge in a French harm reduction collective working in the party setting
Abstract Background The party setting is a dynamic social environment where the world of drug use, the role of music, and a multiplicity of social interactions all converge, often marked by the disruption of social and temporal norms and rules. People who use drugs (PWUD) in the party setting are ra...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Harm Reduction Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-025-01209-9 |
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| author | Serena Garbolino Marie Dos Santos Ombline Pimond Lionel Sayag Nicolas Khatmi Perrine Roux |
| author_facet | Serena Garbolino Marie Dos Santos Ombline Pimond Lionel Sayag Nicolas Khatmi Perrine Roux |
| author_sort | Serena Garbolino |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background The party setting is a dynamic social environment where the world of drug use, the role of music, and a multiplicity of social interactions all converge, often marked by the disruption of social and temporal norms and rules. People who use drugs (PWUD) in the party setting are rarely targeted by institutional harm reduction (HR) interventions despite the many risks specific to this setting. InterCAARUD Festif Île-de-France (IFI) is a collective of French HR associations implementing interventions in the party setting for over a decade through coordinated teams of HR volunteers. We investigated the organization of the IFI collective with a view to acquiring a better understanding of the specific features that enable it to provide relevant HR interventions in the party setting. Methods We collected data over nine months using ethnographic methods (participant observations, photography, field notes and informal interviews), focus groups and semi-structured interviews. We analyzed these data using a thematic analysis. Results Three main themes emerged: (1) coordination of the IFI collective (2) horizontality between the collective’s members (i.e., employees and volunteers) and between the nine collaborating HR associations comprising the collective, and (3) affinity between the collective’s members and their commitment to HR. All three themes reflect one of the key features of the collective’s organization in terms of implementing HR actions, specifically the blurring of roles between partygoers, the collective’s employees and its volunteers. This role-blurring fosters the sharing of another key feature - experiential knowledge - at all levels in the collective’s organization. Conclusion The IFI HR collective is characterized by coordination, horizontality, affinity, and the commitment of its members. Through the blurring of roles between all concerned stakeholders, experiential knowledge is welcomed and used to improve the adaptability and responsiveness of the collective’s HR actions. All these elements enable the collective to carry out relevant HR actions in party settings, despite economic and organizational challenges. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1a8c8c0b005548e5a9ddcc5fa5579bb4 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1477-7517 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Harm Reduction Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-1a8c8c0b005548e5a9ddcc5fa5579bb42025-08-20T03:45:52ZengBMCHarm Reduction Journal1477-75172025-05-0122111210.1186/s12954-025-01209-9“You have to love the party setting”: an ethnography of the blurred lines between roles and experiential knowledge in a French harm reduction collective working in the party settingSerena Garbolino0Marie Dos Santos1Ombline Pimond2Lionel Sayag3Nicolas Khatmi4Perrine Roux5Aix Marseille Univ, Inserm, IRD, SESSTIM, Sciences Economiques & Sociales de la Santé & Traitement de l’Information Médicale, ISSPAM,Aix Marseille Univ, Inserm, IRD, SESSTIM, Sciences Economiques & Sociales de la Santé & Traitement de l’Information Médicale, ISSPAM,Assocation P.R.O.S.E.SAssocation P.R.O.S.E.SAix Marseille Univ, Inserm, IRD, SESSTIM, Sciences Economiques & Sociales de la Santé & Traitement de l’Information Médicale, ISSPAM,Aix Marseille Univ, Inserm, IRD, SESSTIM, Sciences Economiques & Sociales de la Santé & Traitement de l’Information Médicale, ISSPAM,Abstract Background The party setting is a dynamic social environment where the world of drug use, the role of music, and a multiplicity of social interactions all converge, often marked by the disruption of social and temporal norms and rules. People who use drugs (PWUD) in the party setting are rarely targeted by institutional harm reduction (HR) interventions despite the many risks specific to this setting. InterCAARUD Festif Île-de-France (IFI) is a collective of French HR associations implementing interventions in the party setting for over a decade through coordinated teams of HR volunteers. We investigated the organization of the IFI collective with a view to acquiring a better understanding of the specific features that enable it to provide relevant HR interventions in the party setting. Methods We collected data over nine months using ethnographic methods (participant observations, photography, field notes and informal interviews), focus groups and semi-structured interviews. We analyzed these data using a thematic analysis. Results Three main themes emerged: (1) coordination of the IFI collective (2) horizontality between the collective’s members (i.e., employees and volunteers) and between the nine collaborating HR associations comprising the collective, and (3) affinity between the collective’s members and their commitment to HR. All three themes reflect one of the key features of the collective’s organization in terms of implementing HR actions, specifically the blurring of roles between partygoers, the collective’s employees and its volunteers. This role-blurring fosters the sharing of another key feature - experiential knowledge - at all levels in the collective’s organization. Conclusion The IFI HR collective is characterized by coordination, horizontality, affinity, and the commitment of its members. Through the blurring of roles between all concerned stakeholders, experiential knowledge is welcomed and used to improve the adaptability and responsiveness of the collective’s HR actions. All these elements enable the collective to carry out relevant HR actions in party settings, despite economic and organizational challenges.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-025-01209-9Party settingHarm reductionExperiential knowledgeRole blurringEthnography |
| spellingShingle | Serena Garbolino Marie Dos Santos Ombline Pimond Lionel Sayag Nicolas Khatmi Perrine Roux “You have to love the party setting”: an ethnography of the blurred lines between roles and experiential knowledge in a French harm reduction collective working in the party setting Harm Reduction Journal Party setting Harm reduction Experiential knowledge Role blurring Ethnography |
| title | “You have to love the party setting”: an ethnography of the blurred lines between roles and experiential knowledge in a French harm reduction collective working in the party setting |
| title_full | “You have to love the party setting”: an ethnography of the blurred lines between roles and experiential knowledge in a French harm reduction collective working in the party setting |
| title_fullStr | “You have to love the party setting”: an ethnography of the blurred lines between roles and experiential knowledge in a French harm reduction collective working in the party setting |
| title_full_unstemmed | “You have to love the party setting”: an ethnography of the blurred lines between roles and experiential knowledge in a French harm reduction collective working in the party setting |
| title_short | “You have to love the party setting”: an ethnography of the blurred lines between roles and experiential knowledge in a French harm reduction collective working in the party setting |
| title_sort | you have to love the party setting an ethnography of the blurred lines between roles and experiential knowledge in a french harm reduction collective working in the party setting |
| topic | Party setting Harm reduction Experiential knowledge Role blurring Ethnography |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-025-01209-9 |
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