ArticleJournal of substance use and addiction treatment2023
Transitioning off methadone: A qualitative study exploring why patients discontinue methadone treatment for opioid use disorder.
Article in Journal of substance use and addiction treatment, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses 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
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review of patient-reported outcome measures for opioid use disorder recovery.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 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
- Retention among Medicaid beneficiaries in opioid treatment programs in California.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2026Article
- Article
- Duration of Methadone and Buprenorphine-Naloxone Treatment.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- "It's more than just the act of not using. It's a feeling of finally completing something.": Person-centered definitions of successful treatment outcomes from patients and staff at a methadone treatment program in Baltimore City.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2025Article
- Self-reported experiences and perspectives on using psychedelics to manage opioid use among participants of two Reddit communities.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Article
- "Yeah, this is not going to work for me"-The impact of federal policy restrictions on methadone continuation upon release from jail or prison.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2025Article
- Leaving the Norwegian opioid maintenance treatment program - patient experiences.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- U.S. Healthcare Workers' Perspective of Outpatient Provision of Methadone: A Scoping Review.Substance use & addiction journal · 2024Article
- Disrupted brain state dynamics in opioid and alcohol use disorder: attenuation by nicotine use.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Oxycodone withdrawal is associated with increased cocaine self-administration and aberrant accumbens glutamate plasticity in rats.Neuropharmacology · 2024Article
- Measuring time in buprenorphine treatment stages among people with HIV and opioid use disorder by retention definition and its association with cocaine and hazardous alcohol use.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
introductionPatients who discontinue methadone for opioid use disorder are at increased risk of overdose and death. We know little about how patients make the decision to stop treatment. This study explored reasons why patients discontinue methadone treatment.
methodsWe conducted 20 individual semi-structured patient interviews and two staff focus groups, each with five participants, at two opioid treatment programs in Baltimore, MD, in the United States from June 2021 to May 2022. Patient interviews and staff focus groups covered three domains: 1) reasons why patients may want to discontinue methadone; 2) perspectives about the ideal length of methadone treatment; and 3) changes that could improve retention. We used a modified grounded theory approach to code interviews, identify emergent themes, and develop a conceptual model.
resultsWe identified three themes related to patients' internal relationships to methadone: patients (1) viewed methadone as a bridge to opioid-free recovery, (2) believed that long-term methadone damages the body, and (3) felt that methadone increases craving for cocaine; and three themes related to their external relationships with opioid treatment programs and society at large: patients (4) viewed daily dosing as burdensome, (5) feared methadone inaccessibility could trigger relapse, and (6) experienced stigma from friends, family, and peers. Patients with internal reasons planned to stop as soon as possible and asked for education about perceived side effects and treatment for cocaine craving to promote retention. Patients with external reasons were willing to continue for longer and asked for adaptive take-home policies and reduced societal stigma around methadone.
conclusionsPatients want to discontinue methadone either because of their internal relationship to methadone and its real or perceived side effects, or because of their external experiences with opioid treatment programs and societal stigma of methadone. To improve retention, clinical and policy changes should consider responses to both of these categories of reasons.
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Registered trials
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