Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39957328›Full record

ArticleDrug and alcohol review2025

Making long-acting treatment work: Tracing connections with extended-release buprenorphine depot through time.

Sandra Gendera, Kari Lancaster, Tim Rhodes, Carla Treloar

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Drug and alcohol review, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Sandra GenderaSocial Policy Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-3186-9433
Kari LancasterCentre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-2411-7970
Tim RhodesCentre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-2400-9838
Carla TreloarCentre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-8230-0386

Funding

Australian Government Department of HealthIndivior PLC
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionHow people connect with opioid agonist treatment is an ongoing concern. Extended-release buprenorphine depot (BUP-XR) has been designed with 'retention' in mind. It is important to consider what makes a difference to clients in helping them to stay connected to treatment over time.

methodsWe report findings from the third wave of in-depth interviews with participants (n = 26) in the Community Long-Acting Buprenorphine (CoLAB) study, tracing accounts of connection, disconnection and reconnection with BUP-XR since initiation into treatment.

resultsChanging situations in treatment delivery and in people's lives created conditions of possibility for connection and disconnection to treatment. Clients used BUP-XR in different ways. Personalisation of dosing regimens and stretching out of time between doses was common, creating a sense of stability for some. For others, this flexibility potentiated fragility in treatment connection. Disconnection from BUP-XR was common, but frequently this was not the ultimate outcome. Treatment connections were shaped by fluctuating life circumstances, with re-connections imagined, attempted and sometimes realised. DISCUSSION AND

conclusionsClients' accounts reveal the complexities of how 'long-acting' treatments are made to work over time. Connecting with treatment in the long-term is a process, contingent on social relations, fluctuating life conditions and systems of care. Rather than treating connection and disconnection as opposites, we suggest seeing these as entangled and fluid elements of an ongoing process. What is needed is an adaptive and emergent conceptualisation of what 'retention' in treatment can mean, reflective of how people connect with their treatment and make it work, in practice.

Indexed as

BuprenorphineNarcotic AntagonistsOpiate Substitution TreatmentOpioid-Related DisordersAdultDelayed-Action PreparationsFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedBuprenorphineDelayed-Action PreparationsNarcotic Antagonistsextended‐release buprenorphine depotlong‐acting injectable buprenorphineopioid agonist treatmentqualitative studytreatment retention

Identifiers

PMID39957328
PMCPMC11886476

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.