Dataset Information

Treatment Disruption and Childcare Responsibility as Risk Factors for Drug and Alcohol Use in Persons in Treatment for Substance Use Disorders During the COVID-19 Crisis.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

The novel 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has caused considerable upheaval in the U.S. healthcare system. The current study examined patient-reported experiences in substance use disorder (SUD) treatment during the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis.

Methods

Participants in SUD treatment were recruited via online crowdsourcing from April 14, 2020 to May 26, 2020, during the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis. Participants reported disruptions in SUD treatment, stress and anxiety caused by these disruptions on a 0-100 point visual analogue scale (VAS), stress associated with childcare responsibilities on a 0-100 VAS, current stress on the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), anxiety symptoms on the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), sleep disturbances on the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and whether they used drugs or alcohol during the COVID-19 crisis.

Results

Participants (N = 240) endorsed that at least 1 SUD treatment was switched to telemedicine (63.7%), had some appointments cancelled (37.5%), or was discontinued due to COVID-19 (29.6%). Participants who did versus did not endorse drug/alcohol use reported difficulty obtaining medications to treat their SUD (OR = 2.47, 95% CI, 1.17-5.22, χ2 = 5.98, P = .016), greater scores on VAS treatment-related stress (F1,197 = 5.70, P = .018) and anxiety (F1,197 = 4.07, P = .045), greater VAS stress related to childcare (F1,107 = 10.24, P = .002), and greater scores on the PSS (F1,235 = 19.27, P < .001), BAI (F1,235 = 28.59, P < .001), and ISI (F1,235 = 14.41, P < .001).

Conclusions

Providers and public health officials should work to improve continuity and quality of care during the COVID-19 crisis, with special attention on addressing childcare difficulties and providing remote methods to improve stress, anxiety, and sleep for persons in SUD treatment.

SUBMITTER: Huhn AS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8339136 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:While there is broad recognition of the high societal costs of substance use disorders (SUD), treatment rates are low. We examined whether, in the United States, participants with substance or alcohol use disorder would report a greater willingness to enter SUD treatment located in a primary care setting (primary care) or more commonly found specialty care setting in the United States (usual care).Randomized survey-embedded experiment.US web-based research panel in which participants were randomized to read one-paragraph vignettes describing treatment in usual care (specialty drug or alcohol treatment center), primary care or collaborative care within a primary care setting.A total of 42 451 panelists aged 18+ were screened for substance or alcohol use disorder using validated diagnostic criteria. Participants included 344 with a substance use disorder and 634 with an alcohol use disorder not in treatment with no prior treatment history.Willingness to enter treatment across vignettes by condition.Among participants with a substance use disorder, 24.6% of those randomized to usual care reported being willing to enter drug treatment compared with 37.2% for primary care [12.6 percentage point difference; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.8, 24.4) and 34.0% for collaborative care (9.4 percentage point difference; 95% CI = -2.0, 20.8). Among participants with an alcohol use disorder, 17.6% of those randomized to usual care reported being willing to enter alcohol treatment compared with 20.3% for primary care (2.6 percentage point difference; 95% CI = -4.9, 10.1) and 20.8% for collaborative care (3.1 percentage point difference; 95% CI = -4.3, 10.6). The most common reason for not being willing to enter drug (63%) and alcohol (78%) treatment was the belief that treatment was not needed.In the United States, people diagnosed with substance or alcohol use disorders appear to be more willing to enter treatment in a primary care setting than in a specialty drug treatment center. Expanding availability of primary care-based substance use disorder treatment could increase treatment rates in the United States.