Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment

INTRODUCTION: Clinicians and researchers have traditionally relied on treatment retention and opioid abstinence as the primary measures of treatment success for people with opioid use disorder (OUD). However, these measures may not capture the range of clinically important treatment outcomes. The study sought to identify indicators of success in primary care-based medication for OUD (MOUD) treatment from the perspectives of patients with OUD and the physicians who treat them. METHODS: The study recruited patients (N = 18; M age = 38...

INTRODUCTION: Although opioid substitution coverage in France is high and patient care with buprenorphine is mainly managed by general practitioners (GPs), buprenorphine sales have been decreasing since 2011, suggesting that French GPs are prescribing less buprenorphine. Yet this possible change in GP practices has not yet been investigated. This study aimed to examine primary care GPs' opinions about buprenorphine and habits related to prescribing buprenorphine. METHODS: The study team conducted a cross-sectional survey from March 2021 to July 2021 among a sample of GPs in the Sentinelles network, a French epidemiologic surveillance system based on primary care practitioners...

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INTRODUCTION: Stigmatization of an opioid addiction acts as a barrier to those seeking substance use treatment. As opioid use and overdoses continue to rise and affect minority populations, understanding the impact that race and other identities have on stigma is pertinent. METHODS: This study aimed to examine the degree to which race and other identity markers (i.e., gender and type of opioid used) interact and drive the stigmatization of an opioid addiction. To assess public perceptions of stigma, this research team conducted a randomized, between-subjects case vignette study (N = 1833) with a nation-wide survey...

At age 16, I injected morphine for the first time, and then started injecting heroin. By most standards, I was highly functioning, although I eventually became addicted. I was and remain socioeconomically privileged, but my relationship to heroin resulted in behaviors and consequences that I never could have conceived of, and which I sometimes strain to remember occurred. My life now is stable and conventional. Some aspects of my past addiction are unerasable, but the most salient of those are the social and legal consequences of having a criminal record-not any hallmarks of a chronic brain disease or disorder...

INTRODUCTION: As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many treatment courts shifted to offering teleservices. We sought to examine the barriers that clients faced when transitioning to virtual court and treatment, and how this transition impacted their perceptions of the treatment court experience. METHODS: The National Center for State Courts administered an online survey between January 1, 2021, and July 31, 2021, deployed to state and local court administrators, which resulted in 1356 unique client responses from 121 courts...

BACKGROUND: Providing extensive low threshold, low intensity interventions during self-initiated recovery attempts may help to stabilize initial change during early recovery when relapse risk is high. This study provided untreated persons with alcohol use disorder (AUD) daily access to an interactive voice response (IVR) self-monitoring system during the early months of a natural recovery attempt to report drinking-related variables. The study prospectively examined event-level associations among IVR call frequency, urges to drink, and drinking practices to evaluate whether more frequent IVR utilization helped participants to manage urges and attenuated the established relationship between urges and relapse...

INTRODUCTION: The goals of individuals seeking treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD) are typically quantified as abstinent or nonabstinent (e.g., moderate drinking) goals. However, treatment goals can vary over time and be influenced by life circumstances. This study aims to identify predictors of treatment goal change and direction of change from baseline to six-month follow-up among individuals seeking treatment for AUD. METHODS: This study is a secondary analysis of data from the Relapse Replication and Extension Project...

INTRODUCTION: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) populations experience opioid-related disparities compared to heterosexual and cisgender populations. LGBTQ-specific services are needed within opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment settings to minimize treatment barriers; research on the availability and accessibility of such services is limited. The purpose of the current study was to mimic the experience of an LGBTQ-identified individual searching for LGBTQ-specific OUD treatment services, using the SAMHSA National Directory of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Facilities - 2018 (Treatment Directory)...

INTRODUCTION: States' approaches to addressing prenatal substance use are widely heterogeneous, ranging from supportive policies that enhance access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment to punitive policies that criminalize prenatal substance use. We studied the effect of these prenatal substance use policies (PSUPs) on medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment, including buprenorphine, naltrexone, and methadone, psychosocial services for SUD treatment, opioid prescriptions, and opioid overdoses among commercially insured pregnant females with OUD...

INTRODUCTION: Opioid misuse remains a chief public health concern in the United States, especially among justice-involved children and adolescents (JIC). Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are prevalent among JIC and are associated with a higher risk for opioid misuse. Justice involvement can be harsher for females, who tend to have higher ACE scores and experience more physiological and psychological risk factors than males. However, this study was the first to examine how sex may moderate the link between ACEs and opioid misuse...

Stigma thrives in vacuums of awareness where stereotypes are allowed to persist. When those of us with lived experience of addiction and addiction recovery stay in the shadows, we miss an opportunity to challenge a harmful narrative-that people with addiction are fundamentally different from other people and don't get better. Here, we three addiction treatment professionals share our lived experience of overcoming substance use disorder, highlighting how education and careers have formed the cornerstones of our recoveries...

BACKGROUND: Injecting in public places may increase the risk of drug and health-related harms among people who inject drugs (PWID). We examined the prevalence of public injecting and associations with non-fatal overdose, needle/syringe sharing, sexual health, and mental health among PWID in Iran. METHODS: Using respondent-driven sampling, we recruited 2684 PWID from 11 major cities between July 2019 and March 2020. We defined public injecting as injecting primarily in public places, such as streets, parks, or abandoned buildings...

INTRODUCTION: Driving after cannabis use (DACU) and riding with a cannabis-impaired driver (RWCD) are national public health concerns. Though driving impairments and increased crash risk make DACU and RWCD two of the riskiest cannabis-related behaviors, many continue to drive after use and ride with others who are under the influence and do not view DACU or RWCD as dangerous. The current study examined the efficacy of an accessible, low-cost, mobile phone-based brief intervention aimed at reducing DACU and RWCD among college cannabis users in the context of a randomized three-group pilot trial...

INTRODUCTION: Substance use treatment outcomes are challenging to predict: myriad potentially relevant factors influence outcomes, including age, sex, motivations, and history of victimization. METHODS: The current study seeks to assess these factors in adolescents through an evaluation of the relationship between distinct victimization profiles, sex, and cognitive factors related to substance use treatment outcomes-specifically motivation, self-efficacy, and reasons for quitting-and the relationship between these factors and posttreatment outcomes...

INTRODUCTION: Driving while impaired by alcohol (DWI) is a persistent problem. Tailoring intervention modality to client risk and needs (i.e., risk/needs) is posited to both reduce recidivism more efficiently than uniform approaches and circumvent overtreatment or undertreatment. DWI drivers in Quebec must participate in a severity-based intervention assignment program to be relicensed, but like most tailoring programs it has yet to undergo systematic scrutiny. The current longitudinal cohort study tests two main hypotheses underpinning this approach: 1) drivers classified at higher recidivism risk based on their arrest characteristics (DWIR ) show poorer outcomes over up to 5-years postassessment compared to drivers classified at lower risk (DWIF ); and 2) for both DWIR and DWIF groups, assignment of drivers with greater risk/needs to intensive intervention (II) will be advantageous for reducing recidivism risk compared to assignment into brief intervention (BI) for those with lower risk/needs...

INTRODUCTION: This study examined disparities in years of potential life lost (YPLL) related to opioid use among racial and ethnic groups adjusting for individual- and neighborhood-level characteristics. METHODS: The study obtained data on 5265 geocoded death records associated with opioid use from the Washington State Department of Health. Death certificates included information on race and ethnicity, sex, marital status, and educational attainment. We linked these records to neighborhood-level indicators of rurality, area deprivation, and access to opioid treatment programs...

INTRODUCTION: Patients who initially survive opioid-related overdose are at high risk for subsequent mortality. Our health system aimed to evaluate the presence of disparities in prescribing naloxone following opioid overdose. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients seen in our health system, which comprises two academic centers and eight community hospitals. Eligible patients had at least one visit to any of our hospital's emergency departments (EDs) with a diagnosis code indicating opioid-related overdose between May 1, 2018, and April 30, 2021...

BACKGROUND: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) has invested substantial resources in Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers (CCBHCs) to integrate mental health and addiction treatment and to address the nation's epidemic of opioid-related morbidity and mortality. METHODS: Using an audit or "secret shopper" method, we surveyed 311 CCBHCs listed in SAMHSA's Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator to identify the proportion of centers that offer buprenorphine and/or methadone treatment and the proportion of these that offer a prescriber visit during patients' first visit to the center...

INTRODUCTION: Cannabis is one of the most widely used addictive substances globally. Its use increases the risk for various physical and psychological problems and some cannabis users may develop cannabis dependence. Researchers have explored risk factors for transition to cannabis dependence. Military veterans, and in particular, combat veterans, have an elevated risk for cannabis dependence and several emotional disorders. To date, the field lacks knowledge regarding possible risk factors for the development of cannabis dependence among combat military veterans...