Grants and Contracts Details
Description
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused rapid changes in health care delivery from in-person to telehealth
services, including the treatment of persons with opioid use disorder (OUD). Telehealth services (e.g.,
telephone calls and video-to-home, or VTH) have been effectively used in psychiatry, but we have very
little information about primary care clinicians'' or patient''; experiences using telehealth for visits
associated with medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) (e.g., buprenorphine). Understanding these
issues among rural OUD patients during the COVID-19 pandemic is imperative because they are at high
risk of drug use relapse, isolation and loneliness, and mental health declines.
We propose to conduct a mixed-methods study of rural primary care clinicians and their patients
receiving MOUD. We will conduct qualitative interviews among a sample of 30 rural primary care
clinicians to evaluate their practices’ abilities and experiences using telehealth (telephone and VTH) to
diagnosis and treat patients with OUD, perceived or experienced facilitators and barriers to implementing
telehealth, and observations about OUD patients'' treatment adherence during the pandemic.
Simultaneously, we will conduct quantitative surveys among a sample of 200 patients who are receiving
MOUD. The quantitative surveys will evaluate OUD patients’ perspectives of the acceptability of
telehealth services, experiences using telehealth services, treatment continuity, and drug use outcomes.
Specific Aims are to: 1. Describe (using qualitative methods) rural primary care clinicians’ abilities and
actual experiences transitioning to telehealth for patients receiving MOUD, their evaluations of how
patients’ drug use and mental health changed when transitioning to telehealth, and characteristics of
patients who did/did not adjust well to telehealth; 2. Identify (using quantitative methods) rural patients''
predictors of MOUD treatment continuity, preferences for in-person and telehealth services, and
satisfaction with telehealth services during the pandemic; and 3). Identify (using quantitative methods)
rural OUD patients’ predictors of a drug use relapse, actual overdose, and overdose risk.
This study is very time-sensitive during a time of rapid changes in the essential delivery of telehealth
services caused by the COVID-19 crisis that may have long-lasting implications for persons receiving
treatment for OUD.
Status | Finished |
---|---|
Effective start/end date | 9/1/21 → 8/31/24 |
Funding
- National Institute on Drug Abuse: $432,861.00
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