Dataset Information

Ability to join the workforce and work productivity among drug users under methadone maintenance treatment in a mountainous area of Northern Vietnam: a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

A major measure of treatment success for drug users undergoing rehabilitation is the ability to enter the workforce and generate income. This study examines the absenteeism and productivity among people who inject drugs (PWID) enrolled in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) in Northern Vietnam.

Setting

We conducted a cross-sectional study in two clinics in Tuyen Quang province.

Participants

A total of 241 patients enrolled in MMT.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Patients' work productivity was measured using the WPAI-GH instrument (Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire: General Health V2.0). We also collected additional characteristics about participants' employment history, such as proficient jobs, whether they actively found a new job and be accepted by employers.

Results

Most of the participants (>90%) were employed at the time of the study. Rates of absenteeism (missed work), presenteeism (impairment while working) and overall loss of productivity were 15.8%, 5.6% and 11.2%, respectively, as measured by the WPAI-GH questionnaire. The most proficient job was 'freelancer' (17.5%), followed by 'blue-collar worker' (10.6%) and 'farmer' (10.2%). Only 26.8% of patients reported that they actively sought jobs in the past. About half of them had been refused by employers because of their drug use history and/or HIV status. We found no statistically significant difference between patients enrolled in MMT for <1?year and those who had been enrolled >1?year. Factors associated with higher work productivity included not endorsing problems in mobility, self-care or pain; being HIV-negative and having greater MMT treatment adherence.

Conclusion

Our study highlights the high employment rate and work productivity among PWID in MMT programmes in remote areas of Northern Vietnam. The results can help to improve the quality and structure of MMT programmes across Vietnam and in other countries.

SUBMITTER: Nong VM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5642751 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Ability to join the workforce and work productivity among drug users under methadone maintenance treatment in a mountainous area of Northern Vietnam: a cross-sectional study.

Nong Vuong Minh VM Boggiano Victoria L VL Nguyen Lan Huong Thi LHT Nguyen Cuong Tat CT Nguyen Long Hoang LH Xuan Bach Tran T Nguyen Hung Van HV Hoang Canh Dinh CD Latkin Carl A CA Vu Minh Thuc Thi MTT

BMJ open 20170726 7

<h4>Objectives</h4>A major measure of treatment success for drug users undergoing rehabilitation is the ability to enter the workforce and generate income. This study examines the absenteeism and productivity among people who inject drugs (PWID) enrolled in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) in Northern Vietnam.<h4>Setting</h4>We conducted a cross-sectional study in two clinics in Tuyen Quang province.<h4>Participants</h4>A total of 241 patients enrolled in MMT.<h4>Primary and secondary outco ...[more]

PMID: 28751487

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundIn Vietnam, a lower-middle income country, while the overall skill- and knowledge-based quality of health workforce is improving, health workers are disproportionately distributed across different economic regions. A similar trend appears to be in relation to health outcomes between those regions. It is unclear, however, whether there is any relationship between the distribution of health workers and the achievement of health outcomes in the context of Vietnam. This study examines the statistical relationship between the availability of health workers and health outcomes across the different economic regions in Vietnam.MethodsWe constructed a panel data of six economic regions covering 8 years (2006-2013) and used principal components analysis regressions to estimate the impact of health workforce on health outcomes. The dependent variables representing the outcomes included life expectancy at birth, infant mortality, and under-five mortality rates. Besides the health workforce as our target explanatory variable, we also controlled for key demographic factors including regional income per capita, poverty rate, illiteracy rate, and population density.ResultsThe numbers of doctors, nurses, midwives, and pharmacists have been rising in the country over the last decade. However, there are notable differences across the different categories. For example, while the numbers of nurses increased considerably between 2006 and 2013, the number of pharmacists slightly decreased between 2011 and 2013. We found statistically significant evidence of the impact of density of doctors, nurses, midwives, and pharmacists on improvement to life expectancy and reduction of infant and under-five mortality rates.ConclusionsAvailability of different categories of health workforce can positively contribute to improvements in health outcomes and ultimately extend the life expectancy of populations. Therefore, increasing investment into more equitable distribution of four main categories of health workforce (doctors, nurses, midwives, and pharmacists) can be an important strategy for improving health outcomes in Vietnam and other similar contexts. Future interventions will also need to consider an integrated approach, building on the link between the health and the development.

Dataset Information

Ability to join the workforce and work productivity among drug users under methadone maintenance treatment in a mountainous area of Northern Vietnam: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives

Setting

Participants

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Ability to join the workforce and work productivity among drug users under methadone maintenance treatment in a mountainous area of Northern Vietnam: a cross-sectional study.

Similar Datasets

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