ArticleThe International journal on drug policy2022
Navigating Opioid Agonist Therapy among Young People who use Illicit Opioids in Vancouver, Canada.
Article in The International journal on drug policy, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Substance use and co-occurring mental health conditions among adolescents and young adults in North America: a systematic review.BMC psychiatry · 2026Pooled 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
- Harnessing telemedicine to deliver patient-centered opioid agonist treatment within a community-based harm reduction service: a mixed methods evaluation.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Examining opioid agonist treatment (OAT) site operations and early signals of change in the first year of British Columbia's drug decriminalization policy: Insights from a provincial survey.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2025Article
- Building social support into mental health and substance use treatment trajectories: Insights from a longitudinal qualitative and ethnographic study with young people experiencing unstable housing and homelessness.Child & youth services · 2025Article
- Looking beyond drugs: A scoping review of recovery in the context of illicit substance use among adolescents and young adults.The International journal on drug policy · 2024Article
- Engagement, initiation, and retention in medication treatment for opioid use disorder among young adults: A narrative review of challenges and opportunities.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2024Review
- A scoping review on barriers and facilitators to harm reduction care among youth in British Columbia, Canada.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Structural and social changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic and their impact on engagement in substance use disorder treatment services: a qualitative study among people with a recent history of injection drug use in Baltimore, Maryland.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Perceptions of prospective pharmaceutical stimulant substitution treatments among people who use illicit stimulants in Vancouver, Canada.The International journal on drug policy · 2024Article
- Article
- Health through the eyes of youths: a qualitative study.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Trends in Rates of Opioid Agonist Treatment and Opioid-Related Deaths for Youths in Ontario, Canada, 2013-2021.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Interest in using buprenorphine-naloxone among a prospective cohort of street-involved young people in Vancouver, Canada.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2023Article
- Methadone Maintenance Treatment Discontinuation Among Young People who use Opioids in Vancouver, Canada.Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2023Article
- "The system always undermined what I was trying to do as an individual": identifying opportunities to improve the delivery of opioid use services for youth from the perspective of service providers in four communities across British Columbia, Canada.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundOpioid agonist therapy (OAT) has been shown to reduce opioid use and related harms. However, many young people are not accessing OAT. This study sought to explore how young people navigated OAT over time, including periods of engagement, disengagement, and avoidance.
methodsSemi-structured, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted between January 2018 and August 2020 with 56 young people in Vancouver, Canada who reported illicit, intensive heroin and/or fentanyl use. Following the verbatim transcription of longitudinal interviews, an iterative thematic analysis was used to extrapolate key themes.
resultsYoung people contemplating OAT expressed fears about its addictiveness. Many experienced pressure from providers and family members to initiate buprenorphine-naloxone, despite a desire to explore other treatment options such as methadone. Once young people initiated OAT, staying on it was difficult and complicated by daily witnessed dosing requirements and strict rules around repeated missed doses, especially for those receiving methadone. Most young people envisioned tapering off OAT in the not-too-distant future.
conclusionsFindings underscore the importance of working collaboratively with young people to develop treatment plans and timelines, and suggest that OAT engagement and retention among young people could be improved by expanding access to the full range of OAT; updating clinical guidelines to improve access to safer prescription alternatives to the increasingly poisonous, unregulated drug supply; addressing treatment gaps arising from missed doses and take-home dosing; and providing a clear pathway to OAT tapering.
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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.