Developing a remotely delivered intensive outpatient program adapted for hospitalized patients with opioid use disorder: A qualitative study.

Introduction: Individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) who inject drugs have an elevated risk of experiencing serious injection-related infections. While such infections can be treated, treatment for the underlying OUD is often limited. One potential strategy for more intensive addiction treatment is to offer a remotely delivered intensive outpatient program (IOP), adapted from an existing remote IOP ("Smart IOP"). We aimed to conduct a qualitative study to gather feedback on Smart IOP and identify adaptations needed for hospitalized patients.
Methods: Individuals with OUD and a history of serious injection-related infections completed a semi-structured interview and were shown samples of the videos and program content. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded to conduct a thematic analysis.
Results: Seventeen individuals participated. The mean age was 40.8 years and 70.6 % were men. Participants reported that IOP during the hospitalization would have been helpful to their recovery. The themes that emerged were the importance of medications for OUD, having a relapse prevention plan, engaging with a recovery coach, and ensuring treatment linkage post-discharge. Other themes included the recognition of the severity of one's illness and the emotional experiences related to the hospitalization.
Conclusions: Participants expressed the value of an IOP during hospitalization and provided insights into the support needed while hospitalized. The tailored IOP is now being developed and will undergo a pilot feasibility trial.
Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Dr. Weiss reports consultation with Alkermes. All other authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper.
(© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)