Methadone clinic staff perceptions of trauma-informed and patient-centered care: the role of individual staff characteristics

Background: U.S. policy intervention to increase methadone treatment accommodations during COVID did not result in national adoption of the new patient-centered treatment practices. Staff-level interventions may facilitate adoption of these treatment practices, but this will depend upon knowledge about staff level characteristics and beliefs. Currently, the role of clinic staff characteristics, beliefs about patient-centeredness, and perceptions about the need for treatment practice change is unknown. This study explored the relationship between opioid treatment program staff characteristics, work roles and staff beliefs to identify opportunities for future staff-level treatment practice change interventions. Methods: Staff of three Arizona opioid treatment programs were surveyed (n = 40) from April 11–22, 2023 using a hybrid online survey method. The 161 survey items required less than 30 min to complete. Pearson point biserial correlation coefficients assessed the covariation between staff beliefs, staff characteristics and staff work roles. Perception of the clinic as person-centered was a potential proxy indicator for staff awareness of discontinuity between the clinic’s person-centeredness and person-centered approaches to methadone treatment. Results: Among staff, 47.5% reported lived substance use disorder experience and 27.5% reported lived opioid use disorder experience. Most staff (70%) held at least 1 prior clinic role at the current clinic and 5% had had more than 4 prior roles. Rotation was observed with roles that did not require licensure or degrees. Staff with lived experience with substance use disorder or opioid use disorder treatment reported having more prior roles at the clinic than those without such experience. Abstinence-oriented views were significantly associated with reporting vicarious (work related) trauma symptoms. Those who rated the clinic as significantly more person-centered were staff with lived substance use disorder experience who also held abstinence-oriented views, staff with trauma exposure, and staff with lived opioid use disorder treatment experience who held harm reduction beliefs. In contrast, staff without substance use disorder experience who held harm reduction beliefs perceived the clinic as less person-centered. Conclusions: Staff beliefs, personal and work characteristics are likely factors in the recognition of need for clinic practice change. How these characteristics function in a clinic culture may also be influenced by clinic staffing patterns. A patient-to-provider pipeline with role cycling was observed and this staffing pattern may also influence shared beliefs of trauma-informed care or clinic person-centeredness. Vicarious trauma may also be an important factor. Larger studies should examine these relationships further to understand mechanisms associated with recognition of need for clinic practice change in order to inform staff-level interventions to increase opioid treatment program patient-centeredness.