PSYCHOSOCIAL FUNCTIONING OF PARTICIPANTS RECEIVING STANDARD TREATMENT FOR NON-INJECTABLE OPIOID USE BEFORE SWITCHING TO METHADONE MAINTENANCE THERAPY

Abstract

Background: Individuals diagnosed with opioid use disorder (OUD) exhibit a notable disruption in their psychosocial functioning and related domains. In India, there is a dearth of research on these issues with psychosocial functioning in opioid use disorder.
Aim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychosocial functioning of participants receiving standard treatment for non-injectable opioid use (buprenorphine, tapentadol, tramadol, trazodone, zolpidem, and chlordiazepoxide) before switching to methadone maintenance therapy (MMT).
Methods: 134 non-injecting patients with opioid use disorder who had received MMT (n = 74) or therapy as usual (n = 60) for at least one month were evaluated in this cross-sectional study. World Health Organization’s Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test 3.0 The severity of the individuals' illnesses and their comorbidities were evaluated using the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test 3.0. The WHO Quality of Life (WHO QoL BREF), the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ 8), and the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale (SOFAS) were used to measure client satisfaction, QoL, and socio-occupational functioning, respectively.
Results: MMT and TaU had mean SOFAS scores of 78.93±8.03 and 73.31±6.75, respectively, which were statistically significant at p=0.003. For every parameter—physical, psychological, social, and environmental—the MMT group's WHO QoL-BREF scores were considerably higher than those of the TaU group, with corresponding p-values of
<0.0001, 0.0003, 0.003, and <0.001. With p=0.01, MMT had higher mean CSQ-8 scores, at 21.45±1.45 and 20.58±1.54, respectively. The WHO help scores for MMT and TaU were similar, at 21.66±10.76 and 26.08±9.31, respectively, with a p-value of 0.09.
Conclusion: patients consuming MMT for non-injectable opioid use had superior quality of life, client satisfaction, and socio-occupational functioning than those on TaU.