The acceptability and feasibility of a brief psychosocial intervention to reduce blood-borne virus risk behaviours among people who inject drugs: a randomised control feasibility trial of a psychosocial intervention (the PROTECT study) versus treatment as usual

Feasibility, acceptability, and perceived usefulness of a community-evidence-based harm reduction intervention for sexualized stimulant use among Mexican gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men

BACKGROUND

The use of stimulants and other substances with the purpose of enhancing, maintaining, and prolonging sexual activity is known as sexualized substance use. Also known as chemsex, this pattern of use has been mainly explored in high-income countries. The aim of this article was to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and usefulness of a community- evidence-based harm reduction intervention among Mexican gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) adults who reported sexualized stimulant use in the past 6 months and who were not enrolled in any psychosocial treatment.

METHODS

The in-person intervention was designed in partnership with gbMSM who used substances. It consisted of 39 harm reduction strategies before, during, and after episodes of use. The components of the intervention were health and self-care, safety, and psychopharmacology. The intervention was delivered at a university campus, a public recreational space, and an HIV public clinic. Feasibility to deliver the intervention was assessed based on enrolment and completion rates; acceptability through a 28-item, 5-point Likert scale (140 max.) constructed and validated for the Mexican population with good reliability coefficients; usefulness through a 5-point Likert scale ("not useful"-"very useful") for each of the 39 strategies; and potential behavioral change by subtracting the likelihood of implementing each strategy minus the frequency of use of the technique before the intervention.

RESULTS

Participants (n = 19; recruitment rate = 35.2%; completion rate = 84.2%) rated the intervention as acceptable with a mean score of 121.6 (SD = 7.5). The highest potential for behavioral change was regarding the use of information about the half-life of stimulants, polysubstance use, and overdose prevention.

CONCLUSIONS

This intervention is feasible when provided within public health services where potential participants are already in contact. Harm reduction strategies need to surpass sexually transmitted infections prevention and HIV care and focus on substance use and mental health strategies.

Psychosocial factors associated with overdose subsequent to Illicit Drug use: a systematic review and narrative synthesis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Psychological and social status, and environmental context, may mediate the likelihood of experiencing overdose subsequent to illicit drug use. The aim of this systematic review was to identify and synthesise psychosocial factors associated with overdose among people who use drugs.

METHODS

This review was registered on Prospero (CRD42021242495). Systematic record searches were undertaken in databases of peer-reviewed literature (Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, and Cinahl) and grey literature sources (Google Scholar) for work published up to and including 14 February 2023. Reference lists of selected full-text papers were searched for additional records. Studies were eligible if they included people who use drugs with a focus on relationships between psychosocial factors and overdose subsequent to illicit drug use. Results were tabulated and narratively synthesised.

RESULTS

Twenty-six studies were included in the review, with 150,625 participants: of those 3,383-4072 (3%) experienced overdose. Twenty-one (81%) studies were conducted in North America and 23 (89%) reported polydrug use. Psychosocial factors associated with risk of overdose (n = 103) were identified and thematically organised into ten groups. These were: income; housing instability; incarceration; traumatic experiences; overdose risk perception and past experience; healthcare experiences; perception of own drug use and injecting skills; injecting setting; conditions with physical environment; and social network traits.

CONCLUSIONS

Global rates of overdose continue to increase, and many guidelines recommend psychosocial interventions for dependent drug use. The factors identified here provide useful targets for practitioners to focus on at the individual level, but many identified will require wider policy changes to affect positive change. Future research should seek to develop and trial interventions targeting factors identified, whilst advocacy for key policy reforms to reduce harm must continue.

Inhibitory-control training for cocaine use disorder and contingency management for clinic attendance: A randomized pilot study of feasibility, acceptability and initial efficacy

BACKGROUND

Cocaine abusers have impaired inhibitory Cocaine use is associated with impaired inhibitory control. This study determined the feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of inhibitory-control training to cocaine or neutral images in cocaine use disorder patients.

METHODS

Participants were randomly assigned to inhibitory-control training to cocaine (N = 20) or neutral (N = 20) images. Feasibility was assessed by percent of patients eligible for participation after a behavioral qualification session, time-to-target enrollment, percent of clinic visits attended, percent of participants who completed 80 % or more training sessions, and percent of follow-up visits attended. Acceptability was determined using a Treatment Acceptability Questionnaire. Initial efficacy was determined during training and a follow-up phase with urine samples tested qualitatively and quantitatively for cocaine. Participants in both conditions received monetary incentives delivered on an escalating schedule for clinic attendance.

RESULTS

The groups were well matched and no differences on demographic or substance use variables were observed. Attendance was stable during the treatment period with high overall attendance in both groups (average sessions attended: cocaine image group = 97 %; neutral image group = 90 %). No group differences were observed in the percentage of follow-up sessions attended (95 % for the cocaine-image group; 88 % of neutral-image group). Ratings on the Treatment Acceptability Questionnaire were high (i.e., mean scores ≥ 80 for all items rated on 101-unit visual analog scales). Participants in the cocaine- and neutral-image conditions did not differ significantly in terms of cocaine use during the training nor follow-up phase. Inhibitory-control training improved stop signal performance but not delay discounting.

CONCLUSION

The procedures were feasible and acceptable. Inhibitory-control training to cocaine images did not reduce cocaine use relative to the neutral image training condition. The inability to detect significant differences in cocaine use across the groups is not surprising given the small sample size. More research is needed to determine the utility of inhibitory-control training for cocaine use disorder. Future trials should determine whether inhibitory-control training to cocaine images augments the efficacy of other behavioral interventions.