Impacts of COVID-19 on residential treatment programs for substance use disorder

Pagano, Anna; Hosakote, Sindhu; Kapiteni, Kwinoja; Straus, Elana; Wong, Jessie J.; Guydish, Joseph

doi:10.1016/j.jsat.2020.108255

Cited by 53 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…When coalition meetings were required to move from in-person to remote during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were multiple times where ethnographers noted the challenge of perceiving engagement when participants did not have video cameras on. Community-based organizations, particularly those serving marginalized populations, were extremely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic [30] and substance use treatment providers and their patients may have been especially affected [31,32]. Coalition meetings held during the workday likely served as a barrier for engagement as coalition members were also attending to other responsibilities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coalition Building: What Happens When External Facilitators Put the CBPR Principles in Practice? Ethnographic Examples From the Massachusetts HEALing Communities Study

Drainoni

Walt

Martínez

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Background The HEALing Communities Study (HCS) is a large-scale multisite study testing Community Engagement using coalition facilitation as an approach to addressing the worsening overdose crisis. Within Community Engagement, Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) principles guide researchers on best practices for working in partnership with communities, yet these principles have not been well researched in large complex multi-site studies. Methods This paper used ethnographic methods to explore how coalitions operationalized the CBPR principles during early coalition formation. Two coders independently analyzed 101 ethnographies from HCS coalition meetings in eight Massachusetts communities held between November 2019 and December 2020. Themes were developed through consensus between the coders followed by group discussions among the authorship team. Results We found mutual trust, shared goals, addressing power dynamics, meeting structure and attending to the sociopolitical community context could all serve as barriers or facilitators to operationalizing the CBPR principles. Conclusions These findings provide unique suggestions for future community-engaged multisite studies, and demonstrate the importance of research teams to mitigate inherent power imbalances by acknowledging and creating space for community ownership. The findings also highlight the value of a community engaged facilitator role to promote the CBPR principles. Strategies such as transparency, uniting over shared interests and bringing in a wide range of stakeholders were notable facilitators for operationalizing the principles.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coalition Building: What Happens When External Facilitators Put the CBPR Principles in Practice? Ethnographic Examples From the Massachusetts HEALing Communities Study

Drainoni

Walt

Martínez

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…Persons with substance use disorder (SUD) are thought to be directly at a higher risk for COVID-19 and poor outcomes because of higher rates of immunocompromised status and other underlying comorbidities [ 3 ]. Indirectly, disruptions in access to SUD treatment and mental health services have made it more difficult for patients to receive timely and consistent care [ 5 ], and social distancing measures have resulted in individuals using substances alone, raising risk for overdose death [ 6 , 7 ]. There are additional concerns that housing, employment, and economic instability, correlates of substance use problems, have substantially increased during the pandemic [ 8 , 9 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concerns among people who use opioids during the COVID-19 pandemic: a natural language processing analysis of social media posts

Sarker

Nataraj

Siu

et al. 2022

Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy

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Background Timely data from official sources regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people who use prescription and illegal opioids is lacking. We conducted a large-scale, natural language processing (NLP) analysis of conversations on opioid-related drug forums to better understand concerns among people who use opioids. Methods In this retrospective observational study, we analyzed posts from 14 opioid-related forums on the social network Reddit. We applied NLP to identify frequently mentioned substances and phrases, and grouped the phrases manually based on their contents into three broad key themes: (i) prescription and/or illegal opioid use; (ii) substance use disorder treatment access and care; and (iii) withdrawal. Phrases that were unmappable to any particular theme were discarded. We computed the frequencies of substance and theme mentions, and quantified their volumes over time. We compared changes in post volumes by key themes and substances between pre-COVID-19 (1/1/2019—2/29/2020) and COVID-19 (3/1/2020—11/30/2020) periods. Results Seventy-seven thousand six hundred fifty-two and 119,168 posts were collected for the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods, respectively. By theme, posts about treatment and access to care increased by 300%, from 0.631 to 2.526 per 1000 posts between the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods. Conversations about withdrawal increased by 812% between the same periods (0.026 to 0.235 per 1,000 posts). Posts about drug use did not increase (0.219 to 0.218 per 1,000 posts). By substance, among medications for opioid use disorder, methadone had the largest increase in conversations (20.751 to 56.313 per 1,000 posts; 171.4% increase). Among other medications, posts about diphenhydramine exhibited the largest increase (0.341 to 0.927 per 1,000 posts; 171.8% increase). Conclusions Conversations on opioid-related forums among people who use opioids revealed increased concerns about treatment and access to care along with withdrawal following the emergence of COVID-19. Greater attention to social media data may help inform timely responses to the needs of people who use opioids during COVID-19.

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“…Directors of SUD treatment programs in California reported that clients experienced delays in terms of admission or receiving care in interviews conducted at the beginning of the pandemic. 5 These delays were caused by clients having to show a negative COVID-19 test or being required to quarantine before being able to access services. Lin et al 6 conducted focus groups with SUD treatment facilities in California between May and September 2020.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Substance Use Disorder Treatment Facility Operations and Patient Success: Evidence From Mississippi

Meadowcroft

Davis

2022

Subst�Abuse

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to disruptions in the provision of care at substance use disorder (SUD) treatment facilities. Stresses associated with the pandemic could also negatively impact treatment outcomes for clients. The aim of this study is to evaluate how SUD treatment facilities in Mississippi changed their operations following the start of the pandemic. The change in client success rates at the facilities is also assessed. Methods: An online survey was completed by 12 SUD treatment facilities in Mississippi between February and May 2021. Results: Generally, the facilities’ capacity to provide treatment to clientele was moderately affected by the pandemic. Facilities in the sample also adapted a variety of policies to limit the spread of COVID-19. Changes in the services provided by facilities was observed in the survey responses. For client success rates reported by the facilities, there was a decrease in the number of facilities stating that more than 80% of their clients completed treatment across the pre- and post-pandemic periods. However, the number of facilities with more than 80% of their clients successfully finishing treatment has increased in recent months. Conclusions: To continue serving their clientele during the pandemic, facilities enacted COVID-19-related policies and began offering new services such as telehealth. Although client success rates decreased at the beginning of the pandemic, they have returned to pre-pandemic levels in recent months. Our results indicate that SUD treatment facilities and clients have improved in terms of giving and receiving care as the pandemic has progressed.

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Impacts of COVID-19 on residential treatment programs for substance use disorder

Cited by 53 publications

References 37 publications

Coalition Building: What Happens When External Facilitators Put the CBPR Principles in Practice? Ethnographic Examples From the Massachusetts HEALing Communities Study

Coalition Building: What Happens When External Facilitators Put the CBPR Principles in Practice? Ethnographic Examples From the Massachusetts HEALing Communities Study

Concerns among people who use opioids during the COVID-19 pandemic: a natural language processing analysis of social media posts

Understanding the Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Substance Use Disorder Treatment Facility Operations and Patient Success: Evidence From Mississippi

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