Exploring Passion for Opioid Use with a Treatment-Seeking Sample: Results from a Canonical Correlation Analysis.

Background: Novel and personalized intervention strategies are necessary to address the wide treatment gap for individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) who are not prescribed medications for OUD (MOUD). The Dualistic Model of Passion (DMP) offers an innovative opportunity to understand an individual's relationship with opioid use and effectively measure readiness for treatment. The current study aimed to explore how passion for opioid use predicted opioid use behaviors and treatment outcomes among individuals who self-described as treatment-seeking.

Methods: As part of a screening for a larger virtual focus group study, a nationally recruited sample (N = 107; 72.0% non-Hispanic White, 54.2% male) currently receiving or seeking treatment for OUD completed the opioid use version of the Harmonious and Obsessive Passion Scale (O-HOPS) alongside other demographic and substance use history questionnaires.

Results: Eleven out of 13 O-HOPS items that loaded onto two factors (harmonious passion and obsessive passion) were retained in the confirmatory factor analysis solution. Results of the canonical correlation analysis revealed greater obsessive passion for opioid use was associated with more frequent opioid use and problems related to drug use in the past 30 days, controlling for harmonious passion for opioid use and other use- and treatment-related outcomes.

Conclusions: The DMP is applicable to individuals with OUD who are treatment-ready, as obsessive passion is associated with opioid use frequency and use-related consequences. Passion may be a novel metric of treatment readiness to improve engagement with evidence-based treatment such as MOUD initiation and maintenance.