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Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for substance misuse services: findings from a peer-led study

BACKGROUND: The measures implemented to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus disrupted the provision of substance misuse treatment and support. However, little is known about the impact of this disruption on individuals seeking treatment for drug- and/or alcohol-related problems (henceforth serv...

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Autores principales: Holloway, Katy, Murray, Shannon, Buhociu, Marian, Arthur, Alisha, Molinaro, Rondine, Chicken, Sian, Thomas, Elwyn, Courtney, Sam, Spencer, Alan, Wood, Rachel, Rees, Ryan, Walder, Stephen, Stait, Jessica
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9742020/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36503439
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12954-022-00713-6
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author Holloway, Katy
Murray, Shannon
Buhociu, Marian
Arthur, Alisha
Molinaro, Rondine
Chicken, Sian
Thomas, Elwyn
Courtney, Sam
Spencer, Alan
Wood, Rachel
Rees, Ryan
Walder, Stephen
Stait, Jessica
author_facet Holloway, Katy
Murray, Shannon
Buhociu, Marian
Arthur, Alisha
Molinaro, Rondine
Chicken, Sian
Thomas, Elwyn
Courtney, Sam
Spencer, Alan
Wood, Rachel
Rees, Ryan
Walder, Stephen
Stait, Jessica
author_sort Holloway, Katy
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The measures implemented to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus disrupted the provision of substance misuse treatment and support. However, little is known about the impact of this disruption on individuals seeking treatment for drug- and/or alcohol-related problems (henceforth service users). This study aimed to help substance misuse services learn lessons and identify ways of optimising delivery and minimising harm in the event of any future lockdowns or global crises. METHODS: The study was co-produced by a team of peer researchers, practitioners, policymakers and academics. Telephone interviews were conducted with 202 substance misuse service users over a 6-month period commencing June 2020. The interviews were conducted by a small group of seven peer researchers each with lived experience of substance use problems. The interview data were recorded by the peers in an anonymous online questionnaire survey and analysed using standard quantitative and qualitative methods. RESULTS: Service users responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in a variety of ways. Diverse responses were noted in relation to their substance use patterns, their personal lives and their substance misuse treatment experiences. For some, the pandemic acted as a new risk environment factor that increased their vulnerability to substance-related harm. For others, it facilitated aspects of the enabling environment, thereby reducing the risk of harm. CONCLUSIONS: Service users are not a homogenous group, and an individualised approach to treatment that recognises the potential for varied responses to the same stimuli is needed. The findings suggest that service users would benefit from having a choice in how they access treatment and from greater access to outreach programmes that take treatments and harm reduction tools such as naloxone into the community. The research also supports the involvement of people with lived experience in substance use research, policy and practice.
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spelling pubmed-97420202022-12-12 Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for substance misuse services: findings from a peer-led study Holloway, Katy Murray, Shannon Buhociu, Marian Arthur, Alisha Molinaro, Rondine Chicken, Sian Thomas, Elwyn Courtney, Sam Spencer, Alan Wood, Rachel Rees, Ryan Walder, Stephen Stait, Jessica Harm Reduct J Research BACKGROUND: The measures implemented to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus disrupted the provision of substance misuse treatment and support. However, little is known about the impact of this disruption on individuals seeking treatment for drug- and/or alcohol-related problems (henceforth service users). This study aimed to help substance misuse services learn lessons and identify ways of optimising delivery and minimising harm in the event of any future lockdowns or global crises. METHODS: The study was co-produced by a team of peer researchers, practitioners, policymakers and academics. Telephone interviews were conducted with 202 substance misuse service users over a 6-month period commencing June 2020. The interviews were conducted by a small group of seven peer researchers each with lived experience of substance use problems. The interview data were recorded by the peers in an anonymous online questionnaire survey and analysed using standard quantitative and qualitative methods. RESULTS: Service users responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in a variety of ways. Diverse responses were noted in relation to their substance use patterns, their personal lives and their substance misuse treatment experiences. For some, the pandemic acted as a new risk environment factor that increased their vulnerability to substance-related harm. For others, it facilitated aspects of the enabling environment, thereby reducing the risk of harm. CONCLUSIONS: Service users are not a homogenous group, and an individualised approach to treatment that recognises the potential for varied responses to the same stimuli is needed. The findings suggest that service users would benefit from having a choice in how they access treatment and from greater access to outreach programmes that take treatments and harm reduction tools such as naloxone into the community. The research also supports the involvement of people with lived experience in substance use research, policy and practice. BioMed Central 2022-12-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9742020/ /pubmed/36503439 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12954-022-00713-6 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
spellingShingle Research
Holloway, Katy
Murray, Shannon
Buhociu, Marian
Arthur, Alisha
Molinaro, Rondine
Chicken, Sian
Thomas, Elwyn
Courtney, Sam
Spencer, Alan
Wood, Rachel
Rees, Ryan
Walder, Stephen
Stait, Jessica
Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for substance misuse services: findings from a peer-led study
title Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for substance misuse services: findings from a peer-led study
title_full Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for substance misuse services: findings from a peer-led study
title_fullStr Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for substance misuse services: findings from a peer-led study
title_full_unstemmed Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for substance misuse services: findings from a peer-led study
title_short Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for substance misuse services: findings from a peer-led study
title_sort lessons from the covid-19 pandemic for substance misuse services: findings from a peer-led study
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9742020/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36503439
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12954-022-00713-6
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