Huhn AS, et al. - Researchers performed this examination to investigate out-of-treatment individuals that misuse opioids to better understand how perceived access to treatment shapes treatment preference. They suggested that out-of-treatment opioid users were especially interested in counseling-based services and medical care that could be achieved from a primary-care physician.

Methods

• In the study presented here, members (n = 357) were out-of-treatment adults registered as workers on the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform who reported current non-medical prescription opioid use.
• Members were surveyed regarding demographics, insurance status, attitudes toward opioid use disorder (OUD) treatments, and self-reported symptoms of OUD.

Results

• Results of this study suggested that members who were male, did not have medical coverage, and knew that counseling-type services were locally available were most likely to first attempt counseling/detox treatments (χ2(6) = 30.19, p < .001).
• Members who met criteria for severe OUD, used heroin in the last thirty days, knew their insurance covered MAT, and knew of locally available MAT providers were most likely to first attempt MAT (χ2(4) = 26.85, p < .001).
• In addition, members with insurance and who knew of locally available physicians were most likely to attempt physician visits without the expressed purpose of MAT (χ2(3) = 24.75, p < .001).