- Credit Hours: 3 Hours
- Author: Robert Shearer
- Price: $39.00
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Describe the community-based outreach model for reducing HIV and other blood-borne infection risk among people who use drugs.
- Identify the modes of transmission, risk factors, and current epidemiology of HIV, hepatitis B (HBV), and hepatitis C (HCV) among drug-using populations.
- Explain advances in HIV, HBV, and HCV testing, treatment, and prevention, including harm-reduction practices such as syringe service programs and naloxone access.
- Apply evidence-based outreach strategies for engaging people who use drugs in their natural environments to promote behavior change.
- Describe best practices for training and supervising community-based outreach staff, including fidelity, safety, and staff wellness considerations.
- Analyze the relationship between substance use, injection drug practices, and the transmission of blood-borne and sexually transmitted infections.
Package Contents
Course Details
Course Description: HIV and Other Blood-Borne Infections in Drug Users (Revised 2026) covers evidence-based prevention of HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C among people who use drugs, with a focus on the community-based outreach model originally developed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and updated to reflect current public health guidance and harm-reduction practices. It is designed for health professionals and outreach workers who engage people who use drugs—including those not connected to formal treatment—in community settings. Participants will learn the core components of outreach and risk-reduction counseling, strategies for reaching and engaging at-risk populations, and practical approaches to reducing drug-related and sexual transmission risks. The course also addresses program implementation topics such as operating a community field station, training outreach staff, and supervisory practices that support program fidelity and staff wellness.
Date: Ongoing
Distance Learning Method: Asynchronous Reading/Video
Target Audience: Social Workers, Substance Abuse Counselors, Criminal Justice Professionals
Refund Policy: If you request a refund within 30 days of placing your order (and prior to submitting any exams / completing any courses) we will gladly issue a refund of your money, less the processing fee and handling charge.
Course Interactivity: None
Posttest Requirements: Must score 80% or better to pass. Tests can be taken multiple times to obtain passing score.
Course Completion Requirements: Passing score on posttest. Submission of course evaluation. Course date of completion is recorded at this point.
Certificate of Completion: Issued when course is completed, available for download in Student Center
System Requirements: Internet access
About the Instructor
Robert A. Shearer
Dr. Robert A. Shearer is a retired professor of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University. He received his Ph.D. in Counseling and Psychology from Texas A & M University, Commerce. Prior to teaching Criminal Justice, he taught Educational Psychology at Mississippi State University on campus and in the extension program across rural Mississippi during the civil rights era.
He has been teaching, training, consulting and conducting research in the fields of Criminal Justice, human behavior, and addictions for over thirty-six years. He is the author of over sixty professional and refereed articles in Criminal Justice and behavior. He is also the author of Interviewing: Theories, techniques, and practices, 5th edition published by Prentice Hall. Dr. Shearer has also created over a dozen measurement, research, and assessment instruments in Criminal Justice and addictions.
He has been a psychotherapist in private practice and served as a consultant to dozens of local, state, and national agencies. His interests continue to be substance abuse program assessment and evaluation. He has taught courses in interviewing, human behavior, substance abuse counseling, drugs-crime-social policy, assessment and treatment planning, and educational psychology. He has also taught several university level psychology courses in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional Division, led group therapy in prison, trained group therapists, and served as an expert witness in various courts of law.
He has been the president of the International Association of Addictions and Offender Counseling and the editor of the Journal of Addictions and Offender Counseling as well as a member of many Criminal Justice, criminology, and counseling professional organizations prior to retirement.
Approved and Widely Recognized
CEU Matrix is approved by the following national and state accreditation boards:
CEU Matrix is approved with the following state boards:
Arkansas (ASACB), California (CCAPP #OS-07-394-0222), California (CADTP #250), Connecticut (#0115-5202), Delaware (DCB #37), Florida (FCB #5141-A), Georgia (ADACBGA #2026-4-003), Illinois (IAODAPCA #19345), Kentucky, Louisiana (LA ADRA #E026), Michigan (MCBAP), Missouri (Missouri CB #183), New Mexico (NMCBBHP #2046), North Carolina (NCSAPPB), Ohio (OCDP #50-19236), Oklahoma (OBLADS #20260153), Texas (TCB #1758-07)
