Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32477183›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2020

The Accessibility of Opioid Agonist Treatment and Its Forced Discontinuation in Swiss Prisons-Attitudes, Perceptions and Experiences of Defense Lawyers in Dealing With Detained Persons Using Opioids.

Anna Buadze, Stephanie Baggio, Roman Schleifer, Eveline Aeberhard, Hans Wolff, Andres Schneeberger, Michael Liebrenz

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.9field-weighted citation impact, top 23% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Anna BuadzeDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Stephanie BaggioDepartment of Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Roman SchleiferDepartment of Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Eveline AeberhardDepartment of Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Hans WolffDivision of Prison Health, Geneva University Hospitals and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Andres SchneebergerDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Michael LiebrenzDepartment of Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
University of Bern · CHUniversity of Geneva · CHUniversity of Zurich · CH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOpioid agonist treatment (OAT) is an important pillar in the treatment of individuals using opioids and its continuation during imprisonment is recommended. Despite this knowledge access to and continuation of OAT is still limited in many countries. The forced discontinuation during pre-trial detention can cause severe withdrawal symptoms, which in turn may significantly impair the defendant's ability to exercise granted procedural participation rights. Furthermore, it can be argued that forced discontinuation of a desired treatment represents a form of a compulsory intervention.

aimsThe present study was developed against the backdrop of a recent ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (Wenner vs. Germany). It intended to examine how defense lawyers dealing with detained persons using opioids view and assess the accessibility of OAT in pre-trial detention as well as during imprisonment in different parts of Switzerland.

methodsUsing a qualitative approach, we interviewed 11 defense lawyers from three different cantons of Switzerland with multiple years of experience in providing legal representation to more than 220 defendants using heroin. The interviews were analyzed with QSR NVIVO 11 for Windows. A qualitative content analysis approach was used to evaluate findings.

resultsDefenders who had been exposed to the opioid crisis during the course of their legal career had adopted a positive attitude towards OAT and associated it with a stabilizing influence on their clients, an improvement in criminal prognosis, and a reduction in recidivism. They were generally of the opinion that access to OAT had improved, however identified a considerable variance in different penitentiaries, which were mediated by attitudes of staff and authorities. Based on the assessments of the defense lawyers, it can be estimated that the initiation of OAT especially during pre-trial detention is challenging. The predominant aim of OAT in a variety of Swiss prisons still seems to focus on a discontinuation, mediated by a forced reduction of medication. Some of the interventions reported are not in line with the principle of equivalence and strongly contrast the recommendations of the Council of Europe.

Indexed as

defense attorneysforced withdrawalopioid agonist maintenance treatmentprisonqualitative research

Identifiers

PMID32477183
PMCPMC7240251
OpenAlexW3025124667

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