The Impact of Psychological Burdens and Vaccine Worries on Confidence and Adherence to Governmental Policies Against COVID-19 Among Patients with Substance Use Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study in Taiwan.

INTRODUCTION: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had an impact on patients with substance use disorder (SUD). We aimed to investigate factors associated with confidence and adherence to governmental policies against COVID-19 (social desirability) among patients with SUD.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted during 2020 to 2021. Patients with SUD and healthy controls were recruited. The severity of sleep disturbance, social desirability, drug dependence, vaccine worries, other psychological burdens and demographic variables were collected through self-administrated questionnaires. Differences between the SUD and control groups were estimated. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to identify significant relationships between social desirability and other factors.

RESULTS: In total, 58 of patients with SUD and 47 healthy controls were recruited. The patients with SUD had a lower level of social desirability and more severe sleep disturbance than the control group. Older age, more severe sleep disturbance, lower level of drug dependence, and lower level of vaccine worries were significantly associated with a higher level of social desirability among the patients with SUD.

CONCLUSION: Our results show the importance of timely interventions for drug dependence and to address vaccine worries in patients with SUD.