{"title":"Methadone Take-Home Policies and Associated Mortality: Permitting versus Non-Permitting States.","authors":"Rebecca Arden Harris","doi":"10.1177/29768357241272379","DOIUrl":"10.1177/29768357241272379","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>To mitigate COVID-19 exposure risks in methadone clinics, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued a temporary modification of regulations in March 2020 to permit, with state concurrence, extended take-home methadone doses. The modification allowed for up to 28 days of take-home methadone for stable patients and 14 days for those less stable. Using both interrupted time series and difference-in-differences methods, this study examined the association between the policy change and fatal methadone overdoses, comparing states that permitted the expansion of take-home doses with states that did not. The findings suggest the pandemic emergency take-home policy did not increase methadone-involved mortality.</p>","PeriodicalId":517405,"journal":{"name":"Substance use : research and treatment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11331457/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142006263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hannah B Apsley, Alexis R Santos-Lozada, Joy Gray, Gregory Hard, Abenaa A Jones
{"title":"Substance Use Treatment Utilization Among Individuals With Substance Use Disorders in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings on the Role of Polysubstance Use, Criminal Justice Involvement, and Mental Illness From the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.","authors":"Hannah B Apsley, Alexis R Santos-Lozada, Joy Gray, Gregory Hard, Abenaa A Jones","doi":"10.1177/29768357241259947","DOIUrl":"10.1177/29768357241259947","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study used the National Survey on Drug Use and Health to assess a nationally representative sample (N = 4596) weighted to represent 35.2 million adults with DSM-5 criteria-determined substance use disorders (SUDs). This study explored substance use treatment utilization in 2020, emphasizing populations with high vulnerability (e.g., criminal justice involvement (CJI) through parole or probation, polysubstance use, severe mental illness, and HIV/STI). Substance use treatment was broadly defined (any inpatient, outpatient/doctor's office, self-help/other for alcohol/drugs). Our results indicated that among adults with SUDs in 2020, 7 million (20%) had multiple SUDs, 1.75 million (5%) had CJI, 5.3 million (15%) had a severe mental illness, and 1.8 million (5%) had a diagnosis of HIV/STI in the last year. Only 7% of individuals with SUD sought any substance use treatment in the past year. CJI (aOR: 13.39, 95% CI: [7.82, 22.94]), serious mental illness (aOR: 3.27, 95% CI: [1.93, 5.55]), and having both 2 (aOR: 2.10, 95% CI: [1.29, 3.42]) or 3 or more SUDs (aOR: 3.46, 95% CI: [1.82, 6.58]) were all associated with a greater likelihood of receiving treatment. Marriage (aOR: 0.43, 95% CI: [0.25, 0.74]) and having an income twice the poverty threshold (aOR: 0.53, 95% CI: [0.29, 0.94]) were associated with reduced odds of receiving any substance use treatment. Compared to those 18 to 25, older individuals had increased odds (2-4 times) of receiving treatment. Interventions are crucially needed to increase access to treatment among those with SUDs.</p>","PeriodicalId":517405,"journal":{"name":"Substance use : research and treatment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11177729/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141332855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
James M Bjork, Jaclyn S Sadicario, Nabila F Jahan, Espn Curiel, Lillia Thumma, Jarrod Reisweber
{"title":"Virtual Hybrid Versus In-Person Administration of Transcending Self Therapy for Veterans with Substance Use Disorders.","authors":"James M Bjork, Jaclyn S Sadicario, Nabila F Jahan, Espn Curiel, Lillia Thumma, Jarrod Reisweber","doi":"10.1177/29768357241255437","DOIUrl":"10.1177/29768357241255437","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Veterans with substance use disorder (SUD) can show high severity and are at high risk of relapse due to trauma histories and other comorbid conditions. However, evidence-based SUD therapies may not be available to many veterans due to geographic or transportation constraints. Telehealth approaches have shown promise to improve access to different SUD therapy formats but have not been well-studied in open (rolling-admission) group therapy of in-person patients as administered by a single on-screen therapist.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Social distancing required by the COVID-19 pandemic forced the transition of delivery of Transcending Self Therapy (TST) from an in-person therapist to a single remote (on-screen) therapist. In this virtual model, veterans continued to receive TST but the therapist was off site and provided therapy to veterans who were together in the same room during a 28 day residential Veterans Affairs treatment program. In a program evaluation, we compared their changes in quality of life (QoL), treatment satisfaction ratings and group therapy treatment outcomes with those of Veterans who received TST from an in-person therapist.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In both groups, there was a significant increase in QoL Inventory scores from baseline to post-treatment, with no difference in improvement between treatment modalities (i.e., in-person group vs telehealth-delivered group). Veterans professed knowledge of therapy-driven skills at the end of treatment in both groups and overwhelmingly rated TST as helpful and understandable.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These data extend previous findings of patient acceptability of remotely-delivered SUD treatment, here with a remote therapist administering open group therapy, as evidenced by improvement in QoL and positive patient feedback about the remote intervention.</p>","PeriodicalId":517405,"journal":{"name":"Substance use : research and treatment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11129570/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141159303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Raman Baweja, Sara Mills-Huffnagle, Amanda Jernigan, Nungshitombi Chongtham, Daniel Waschbusch, James G Waxmonsky
{"title":"Synthetic Marijuana: Assessment of Usage, Motivation and Associated Risks in Adolescent Substance Users.","authors":"Raman Baweja, Sara Mills-Huffnagle, Amanda Jernigan, Nungshitombi Chongtham, Daniel Waschbusch, James G Waxmonsky","doi":"10.1177/29768357241254258","DOIUrl":"10.1177/29768357241254258","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Use of Synthetic and designer products, including synthetic marijuana (SM), among adolescents poses a major risk to public health. Little is known about the motivating factors of synthetic substance use in adolescents. This study examined the motivations, predictors, perceived risks and benefits, and differences with SM versus natural marijuana among adolescents.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Between April 2016 and May 2018, a convenience sample of adolescents receiving substance use treatment from a local counseling center completed an anonymous survey to assess the use of natural and synthetic marijuana use, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire to assess levels of current psychiatric symptoms and the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences-Positive Scale to assess symptoms of psychosis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 80 adolescents (age range of 14-18 years; 71% male; 53% Caucasian) completed the study. Of these, 39 (49%) reported natural marijuana use (natural marijuana users) and 41 (51%) reported both synthetic and natural marijuana use (dual users). The most commonly reported reasons for using SM were its low cost and reduced risk of detection. Participants who were familiar with SM and reported a desire to avoid detection on drug tests were likelier to use SM (all <i>P</i> < .05). Dual users reported more benefits and risks associated with SM use when compared to natural marijuana users (<i>P</i> ⩽ .05). The use of SM also heightened the perceived medical risks of natural marijuana, including seizures and respiratory issues (<i>P</i> < .05), compared with natural marijuana users. While dual users self-reported more conduct (<i>P</i> = .009) and externalizing problems (<i>P</i> = .024) when compared to natural marijuana users, there were no group differences in psychotic symptoms, nor correlations with the frequency of synthetic or natural marijuana use and psychotic symptoms except that persecutory ideation correlated with the frequency of natural marijuana use during the past 12 months (<i>r<sub>p</sub></i> = 0.28, <i>P</i> = .04).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These results suggest that reports of cost savings, and lack of detection on urine drug screens are common reasons for SM use in adolescents despite being aware of the risks of using SM. Perceived benefits of using synthetics and other novel substances appear diverse, and merit further exploration as a better understanding of what motivates adolescents to use specific novel substances may guide prevention and treatment efforts.</p>","PeriodicalId":517405,"journal":{"name":"Substance use : research and treatment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11102655/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141066477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yiyan Li, Geoffrey Maina, Ghazal Mousavian, Yiting Fang, Barbara Twum-Antwi, Jordan Sherstobitoff, Jonathan Amoyaw, Mamata Pandey
{"title":"Family-based Interventions of Preventing Substance Use Among Immigrant Youth: A Scoping Review.","authors":"Yiyan Li, Geoffrey Maina, Ghazal Mousavian, Yiting Fang, Barbara Twum-Antwi, Jordan Sherstobitoff, Jonathan Amoyaw, Mamata Pandey","doi":"10.1177/29768357241244680","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/29768357241244680","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Immigrant youth face heightened risks of substance use due to the stress associated with immigration and acculturation. While parental intervention can have a preventative impact on substance use, parents need to be well-informed about substance use and effective interventions that can prevent substance use among immigrant youth. Such interventions ought to be culturally sensitive, family-based, and targeted at the specific substances that are prevalent in a given context. Identifying and curating interventions that can empower parents in addressing substance use can help mitigate the risks that immigrant youth may face.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This scoping review aimed to identify the types, characteristics, and effectiveness of family-based substance use intervention programs. Based on Arksay and O'Malley's guidelines, interventions included in the review must have met the following criteria: (a) was a family-based intervention aiming to prevent substance use; (b) targeted immigrant teens aged 12 to 17 years old; (c) was published in English; (d) originated from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or the United States. The pinch table was used to synthesize included articles, after which studies were compared and categorized, and cross-cutting categories were identified.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>After screening 4551 searched literature, 13 studies that utilized family-based interventions were included in the review. All interventions were face-to-face programs, and most interventions involved parents and youth as participants. Eco-developmental theory and active learning strategies were used by multiple interventions. Given immigrant families were target stakeholders, both deep structure and surface structure cultural adaptations were utilized. Interventions increased parents' knowledge and skills regarding substance use prevention and delayed substance use initiation among youth.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>From the review, it was evident that parents are an essential element in any program aiming to prevent or reduce children's substance use. Besides information about substance use prevention, the curriculum also involves parenting and communication skills for parents to understand the protective effects of family. Effective family-based interventions for immigrant youth require attention to parenting and immigration stress, while also considering cultural adaptation. Future directions and limitations are also discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":517405,"journal":{"name":"Substance use : research and treatment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11069246/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140859537","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Evan J Basting, Alyssa M Medenblik, Kaja Switalska, Alisa R Garner, Ryan C Shorey, Gregory L Stuart
{"title":"Impulsivity Dimensions Predict Treatment Dropout Among Women in Residential Treatment for Substance Use Disorders.","authors":"Evan J Basting, Alyssa M Medenblik, Kaja Switalska, Alisa R Garner, Ryan C Shorey, Gregory L Stuart","doi":"10.1177/29768357241245827","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/29768357241245827","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Residential treatment for substance use disorders (SUDs) is effective at reducing substance use, dependence, and other related problems. However, dropout from treatment against medical advice (AMA) is common in residential treatment settings. Studies have shown that impulsivity is associated with substance misuse and treatment dropout in predominately male samples, but less is known regarding whether impulsivity dimensions predict treatment dropout among women. This study examined impulsivity dimensions (ie, negative urgency, positive urgency, lack of perseverance, lack of premeditation, and sensation seeking) as predictors of dropout AMA among women in a residential substance use treatment facility (N = 229). Logistic regression results demonstrated that elevations in lack of perseverance and sensation seeking were associated with an increased odds of treatment dropout AMA and that lack of premeditation was associated with a <i>decreased</i> odds of treatment dropout AMA. Study findings suggest that early evidence-based interventions for sensation seeking and lack of perseverance may improve retention of women in residential treatment.</p>","PeriodicalId":517405,"journal":{"name":"Substance use : research and treatment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11020744/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140862228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dana H Chung, Stephanie Slat, Aditi Rao, Jennifer Thomas, Adrianne Kehne, Colin Macleod, Erin F Madden, Pooja Lagisetty
{"title":"Improving Medical Student Knowledge and Reducing Stigmatizing Attitudes Toward Treating Patients With Opioid Use Disorder.","authors":"Dana H Chung, Stephanie Slat, Aditi Rao, Jennifer Thomas, Adrianne Kehne, Colin Macleod, Erin F Madden, Pooja Lagisetty","doi":"10.1177/11782218241234808","DOIUrl":"10.1177/11782218241234808","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Stigma and lack of knowledge are barriers to clinicians when caring for individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD). In 2018, only about 15 out of 180 American medical schools had comprehensive addiction programs. The AAMC reports that institutions are increasingly incorporating competencies to address the OUD and opioid epidemic. There have been few evaluated curriculums focused on reducing stigmatizing attitudes. This study evaluated whether a 4-hour case-based curriculum focused on improving stigmatizing attitudes toward patients with OUD could reduce medical student perceptions around viewing addiction as a punitive condition and other substitution-based misconceptions around opioid agonist-based medication.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Medical students completed a 4-hour curricular workshop which included learning objectives focusing on barriers to healthcare/stigmatizing attitudes, effective behavioral therapy options, and appropriate use of opioid medications. We measured changes in knowledge and attitudes using validated scales on stigma. Non-parametric repeated measure tests determined statistically significant differences between pre and post assessments between OUD related perceptions and a control condition (diabetes).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of 135 eligible participants, 99 (76%) students completed both pre- and post-surveys. Mean scores across knowledge questions improved (60%-81%, <i>P</i> < .001) and stigmatizing attitudes regarding perceived violence of people with OUD decreased (2.04-1.82, <i>P</i> = .016). There was significant improvement in mean scores for OUD-related opinions including desire to work with and effectively treat patients with OUD (3.58-3.88, <i>P</i> < .001) while no significant concurrent change was observed in mean opinion scores of a non-OUD comparator, diabetes (3.88-3.97, <i>P</i> = .201).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Results indicate that the workshop was associated with measurable changes in knowledge and attitudinal forms of OUD stigma. With recent policy changes eliminating the X-waiver, healthcare institutions are eager to design curriculum around OUD management and treatment. This study provides a blueprint for an effective curriculum that improves clinician knowledge and reduces stigmatizing attitudes.</p>","PeriodicalId":517405,"journal":{"name":"Substance use : research and treatment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10908233/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140023927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}