Determine needs and habits of clients. Observing a shooting gallery or other public drug use area can tell you if users share needles, if they clean between use and how they clean, if they sell needles, if they trade drugs for sex, what kinds of drugs they use, and if there are other drugs being used. If drug users are sharing needles and cleaning practices are inadequate, outreach workers might want to do needle cleaning demonstrations, hand out bleach, or hand out cards with times and locations of needle exchange services. Determine availability of safer sex supplies. To find out if condoms are both available and easily accessed, staff can visit a few drug stores in the community to see what brands of condoms are being sold, whether they are in an aisle or behind a counter, and if customers need to ask a clerk for them.
Staff can also visit local bars or hangouts to see if there are condom machines in the bathrooms.
If customers need to ask a clerk for condoms, a discussion with the store manager or pharmacist might alert them to the need for easy access without embarrassment. Determine acceptability of programs. Observing a peer educator conducting an intervention, or a needle exchange site, or a safer sex rave or volleyball game can tell you more about a program that's in progress. If clients seem to lose interest at the end of an educational session, perhaps it needs to be shortened by 15 to 30 minutes. If clients disappear when police cruise by, perhaps a meeting with the local beat police or chief is needed to try to explain what the agency is trying to accomplish.