Background: Over the past decade, drug-related overdoses have seen a significant rise both in North America and globally. The COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasised the urgent need for safer supply programs to replace unregulated substances, reducing toxicity and overdose risks. Service providers play a crucial role in delivering safer supply initiatives, yet there's limited empirical evidence from their perspective on what constitutes effective safer supply programs. This study delves into the initial implementation and impacts of a safer supply program, capturing insights from an...

Background: Physical health problems are common in people receiving opioid agonist treatment (OAT). A study was conducted on these health issues in OAT patients in the Czech Republic and Norway from 2010 to 2019, with a focus on gender differences.

Methods: In this study, it was a population-based cohort study that linked multiple health records to investigate physical diseases (using ICD-10 codes) in patients receiving OAT in the Czech Republic (4,280 patients) and Norway (11,389 patients) from 2010 to 2019. A gender-stratified analysis was performed.

Results: The study found that both male...

INTRODUCTION: The Cyprus National Addictions Authority (NAAC) is the main coordinating body for all matters related to licit and illicit substances as well as pathological gambling in Cyprus and it is responsible, inter alia, for the licensing, evaluation, funding (where possible), coordination, and reinforcement of all programmes, actions, and activities related to substances and gambling. Licensing and funding are based on the fulfilment of certain criteria and a certain level of quality.

METHODS: The process that led to the establishment of a quality standards system for licensing and...

BACKGROUND: The implementation of quality standards in the treatment of substance use disorders in Lithuania is not well documented in the literature. AIMS: To describe the process of the development of quality standards from grassroots initiatives to their integration into mainstream healthcare under the leadership of the Ministry of Health.

METHODS: Narrative review of retrieved documents, including related legal acts, followed by a subsequent content analysis.

RESULTS: The implementation was divided into three stages characterised by specific activities, leading stakeholders, and the...

The UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia (ROCA) together with the UNODC Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section (PTRS) organized a study tour for high-level representatives, including senior officials, policymakers and substance use disorders clinicians, from the Republic of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyz Republic to London, United Kingdom from 24 to 27 April 2023.

The main purpose of the visit was to learn and witness best practices in the areas of clinical governance, quality, and performance management of drug use disorder treatment services. The visiting...

The UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia (ROCA) conducted a series of National Trainings “UNODC Drug Use Disorder Treatment Systems Quality Assurance (QA)” which took place 27 to 28 February 2023 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from 2 to 3 March 2023 in Dushanbe Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and from 9 to 10 March 2023 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The main goal of these three (3)  trainings was to increase the capacity of key national stakeholders on the development of the national quality assurance system standards, in line with the UNODC-WHO International Standards for Treatment of Drug Use Disorders. In...

The UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia organized a national training on "Quality Assurance of Drug Use Disorder Treatment Systems" in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, from 28 to 30 November 2022.

This capacity-building exercise was carried out within the framework of UNODC's global project GLOJ71 "Treatment of Drug Dependence and Its Health Consequences: Treatnet" in collaboration with Subprogramme 3: Addressing Drug Problems, Strengthening Treatment of Drug Use Disorders and HIV/AIDS Prevention of the UNODC Central Asia Programme for 2022-2025 and the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section...

The UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia (ROCA) conducted a National Training “UNODC Drug Use Disorder Treatment Systems Quality Assurance (QA)” which took place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on 28-30 November 2022.

This capacity building exercise was conducted in the framework of the UNODC global project GLOJ71 “Treating drug dependence and its health consequences: Treatnet II” in collaboration with Sub-programme 3: Addressing drug problems, increasing treatment of drug use disorders, and preventing HIV/AIDS” of the UNODC Programme for Central Asia 2022-2025. Moreover, the event was implemented...

Background

Interdisciplinary collaborations (i.e., where various disciplines work coordinated and interdependently toward shared goals) are stated to yield higher team effectiveness than multidisciplinary approaches (i.e., where various disciplines work in parallel within their professional boundaries) in somatic health care settings. Nevertheless, research is lacking on interdisciplinary approaches for alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment of hospitalized patients as these types of approaches are still uncommon. This study aims to evaluate an innovative interdisciplinary AUD treatment...

This month on November 9th, 2022, the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) DDR Partners meeting offered a discussion on quality assurance and included two presentations:

• Building Quality Improvement for SUD Treatment Systems, Victor Capoccia, Consultant
• Quality Improvement – Next Steps, Brian Morales, INL

The meeting highlighted the importance of understanding the patient experience, the replicable, proven, and practical approaches to improve SUD treatment, in addition to the standards and measures that define the quality of the SUD treatment.

The Key quality...

Contingency management (CM) is a psychological treatment based on operant conditioning. It consists of providing incentives in exchange for achieving a target behaviour such as abstinence or other treatmentrelated variables (e.g. session attendance, adherence to medication). The objective of this article was to introduce the rationale of CM for substance use and, more specifically, for smoking cessation. A growing body of empirical literature supports CM as an effective treatment for quitting smoking both in the general population and among other hard-to-treat smokers (e.g. pregnant women or...

Background

Appointment no-show and early dropout from treatment represent major challenges in outpatient substance use disorder treatment, adversely affecting clinical outcomes and health care productivity. In this quasi-experimental study, we examined how a brief reminder intervention for new patients before their first appointment affected treatment participation and retention. No-shows (not attending any sessions) and dropouts (discontinuation of initiated treatment because of three consecutively missed appointments) were compared between a period with pre-admission telephone calls...

Background

In somatic health care settings, interdisciplinary collaborations (where various disciplines work coordinated and interdependently toward shared goals) are considered to yield higher team effectiveness than multidisciplinary approaches (where various disciplines work in parallel within their professional boundaries). Nonetheless, research on multidisciplinary techniques for the treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD) in hospitalised patients is limited since these approaches are relatively uncommon. The purpose of this study is to evaluate a novel multidisciplinary AUD treatment...

Background

Aftercare programs for people with substance use disorders (PWSUD) are frequently challenged with a number of overlapping obstacles, including uncertain policy consequences and a lack of resources. Despite demographic variety, service providers in South Africa are obligated to offer aftercare programs that effectively reintegrate people with PWSUD into society, the workforce, family, and community life, as specified by Act No. 70 of 2008. Little is known about the availability of aftercare services in South Africa, particularly in rural areas. This paper investigates service...