ArticleThe International journal on drug policy2019
Struggling to achieve a 'normal life': A qualitative study of Vietnamese methadone patients.
Article in The International journal on drug policy, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04706624 (Screen, Treat and Retain Meth-using People With Opioid Use Disorders at Methadone Clinics), which is not on this map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Screen, Treat and Retain Meth-using People With Opioid Use Disorders at Methadone Clinics
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The impact of relaxing restrictions on take-home doses during the COVID-19 pandemic on program effectiveness and client experiences in opioid agonist treatment: a mixed methods systematic review.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2023Pooled it
- A community approach to promote healthcare services for people living with HIV who use drugs in Vietnam.International journal of STD & AIDS · 2022Trial
- Correlates of days of medication for opioid use disorder exposure among people living with HIV in Northern Vietnam.The International journal on drug policy · 2022Trial
- Integrating evidence-based methamphetamine interventions into methadone clinics: Structural barriers and implementation opportunities.The International journal on drug policy · 2026Article
- Patient Trust in Healthcare Providers among People on Methadone Maintenance Treatment Using Methamphetamine in Vietnam.Substance use & misuse · 2026Article
- Patient preferences for incentives in Contingency Management interventions in methadone treatment: A best-worst scale analysis.PloS one · 2026Article
- Mental Health Care for Patients with Opioid Use Disorder and Methamphetamine Use in Methadone Maintenance Treatment: Experiences and Perspectives.International journal of mental health and addiction · 2025Article
- Optimal provision of opiate substitution therapy and needle and syringe programmes: a multi-method realist evaluation.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025Article
- Strained patient-provider relationship, unmotivated workforce, financial constraints, and stigma: Multiple challenges in integrating mental health care within Vietnam's methadone clinics.Journal of ethnicity in substance abuse · 2025Article
- Innovations for building implementation science capacity among researchers and policymakers: The Depth and Diffusion Model.Global implementation research and applications · 2024Article
- "If they get out of drug rehab centers, they're on their own": Opportunities and challenges for people released from compulsory drug rehabilitation centers to communities in Vietnam.The International journal on drug policy · 2024Article
- Patient and Provider Perspectives on Processes of Engagement in Outpatient Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder: A Scoping Review.Community mental health journal · 2024Article
- Stigma as a barrier to integrated substance use and HIV care in Vietnam: A qualitative examination of patient and provider perspectives.Journal of ethnicity in substance abuse · 2024Article
- Using ADAPT-ITT framework to tailor evidence-based interventions for addressing methamphetamine use among methadone patients in Vietnam.Drug and alcohol review · 2023Article
- Opioid relapse and its predictors among methadone maintenance patients: a multicenter, cross-sectional study in Vietnam.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- An intervention pilot to facilitate harm reduction service decentralization in Vietnam.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2023Article
- Drug Harm Reduction in Vietnam: A Review of Stakeholders' Perspectives and Implications for Future Interventions.American journal of public health · 2022Article
- Familial support in integrated treatment with antiretroviral therapy and medications for opioid use disorder in Vietnam: A qualitative study.Substance abuse · 2022Article
- "I'm not like others": stigma navigation by people who inject drugs in Vietnam.Drugs (Abingdon, England) · 2022Article
- Estimated population size of the people who inject drugs in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam: A two survey capture-recapture study using respondent driven sampling.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMethadone maintenance treatment, initially introduced in Vietnam for HIV harm reduction, has marked a significant switch in the country's drug policy - from addiction as a moral issue to addiction as a brain disease. After the some initial outstanding achievements, the programme is facing a high dropout rate that threatens both goals of HIV prevention and drug treatment. This sociological study, as part of an HIV intervention research project, explores the challenges and opportunities that individuals who use drugs are faced with in relation to addiction treatment.
methodsA qualitative study among drug users with and without methadone maintenance treatment experiences recruited by peer outreach workers. We conducted 58 in-depth interviews and 2 focus groups between 2016 and 2017.
resultsThe start of treatment brought about significant feelings of success as heroin use was no longer compulsive. However, being in treatment programmes is also challenging with respect to continuing the recovery process. Barriers to retention include a popular fear of methadone as another harmful drug, a feeling of dependence related to the current practices of methadone treatment programmes and a poor therapeutic relationship. In the face of such challenges, the two major motivations that keep patients in care come from the desire to completely break up with heroin and the pursuit of family happiness.
conclusionThe current practices of methadone programmes pose challenges to patients' recovery efforts from addiction and threaten treatment retention. Prompt interventions are needed to help Vietnam attain its objective of providing better care for larger vulnerable populations.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.