Problematic alcohol use (PAU) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) are some of the leading risk factors of disease, disability, and premature mortality globally. Substance use health services are often fragmented, challenging to access, and associated with lengthy wait times. In response to these issues, rapid access addiction medicine (RAAM) clinics were developed to provide people seeking support for alcohol or substance use concerns with a low-barrier-to-access healthcare option. However, there are opportunities to continue to optimize the services provided by RAAM clinics.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many substance use health services pivoted to providing care virtually to maintain physical distancing. However, the number of people accessing these services during the pandemic still went down because many other barriers exist that prevent people from making use of services, even if virtual care is provided.
Dr. Kednapa Thavorn is leading a research project to better understand the preferences of people with concerns about alcohol use for characteristics of RAAM clinics. Understanding the preferences of potential clients can enable policymakers and service funders to make improvements to RAAM clinics that make them more accessible.
To do this, the research team (made up of a collaboration between researchers, people with lived/living experience, clinicians, and policymakers ) is undertaking 4 tasks:
1. A scoping review of the literature to see what barriers to and facilitators of access to substance use health services for PAU have been reported in other research studies.
2. A survey seeking consensus among people who have struggled or are struggling with PAU to understand which characteristics of RAAM clinics are most important to consider if they were looking to go to a RAAM clinic.
3. A survey to assess how individuals with PAU weigh their options and consider trade-offs when presented with different options for how a RAAM clinic’s services could look.
4. Interviews with clients of Ontario RAAM clinics who sought help for concerns related to alcohol use to better understand the social, psychological, and environmental factors that helped or hindered them in going to a RAAM clinic. (See graphic above for details on participation)
If you are interested in participating in an interview, please click this link to fill out a pre-interview survey in English, or click this link to fill out a pre-interview survey in French)
This work is enabled by the generous support of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, as well as the collaboration between the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Community Addictions Peer Support Association, Royal Mental Health Centre, Lakeridge Health, Health Sciences North, University of Utah, Auburn University, Chiang Mai University, Mental Health Commission of Canada, Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, Canadian Psychological Association, and Léger.
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1 Canadian Institute for Health Information. Alcohol Harm in Canada: Examining Hospitalizations Entirely Caused by Alcohol and Strategies to Reduce Alcohol Harm. 2017 (Accessed September 10, 2021) 52 p.(www.cihi.ca). (Accessed September 10, 2021)
2 Griswold MG, Fullman N, Hawley C, et al. Alcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2016: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet. 2018;392(10152):1015–1035.
3 Monaghesh E, Hajizadeh A. The role of telehealth during COVID-19 outbreak: A systematic review based on current evidence. BMC Public Health. 2020;20(1).
