Adaptation of contingency management for stimulant use disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has rapidly spread across the world. Individuals with stimulant use disorder are a vulnerable population, who are particularly at risk of negative outcomes during this pandemic due to several risk factors, including mental and physical comorbidities, weakened immune responses, high-risk behaviors, and barriers to healthcare access. Engaging patients with stimulant use disorder in regular treatment has become even more difficult during this pandemic, which has resulted in many cuts to addiction treatment programs. The most effective treatment options for stimulant use disorder are psychosocial interventions, which rely heavily on in-person interactions, posing an added challenge during physical distancing. In particular, contingency management (CM) is a behavioral therapy that utilizes tangible reinforcements to incentivize targeted behavior changes, and is an effective treatment intervention used for stimulant use disorder. This paper highlights the treatment challenges for individuals with stimulant use disorder and the importance of adapting CM programs during COVID-19. We present strategies for how CM can be adapted and its role expanded in a safe way during the COVID-19 pandemic to help prevent infection spread, stimulant use relapse, and worsened psychosocial consequences.

Non-pharmaceutical interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic: A review

“…While the large majority of articles provide a general outlook to a specific topic, some draw from a specific context. In fact, we find comments focused from observations in USA [253] , [254] , [255] , [256] , [257] , [258] , in Italy [259] , [260] , [261] , in Canada [262] , [263] and the UK [264] , [265] . We have then articles that focus on Africa [266] , China [267] , Ethiopia [268] , France [260] , Poland [269] , Taiwan [270] , Vietnam [271] , South Korea [272] and Singapore [273] .…”

“…The second, the topics and references. Category Topic and references Change to medical practice Mental health care [254] , [257] , [261] , [273] , [274] , [275] ; Emergency care [276] , [277] ; Substance abuse [253] , [263] , [278] , [279] , [280] ; Oncological care [264] , [281] Health care practices [255] , [259] , [262] , [282] , [283] , [284] ; Pediatric care [283] , [285] Other care [256] , [260] , [268] , [286] , [287] , [288] Modeling Modeling approaches [28] , [265] , [289] , [290] , [291] , [292] , [293] ; Transmission dynamics [294] , [295] , [296] , [297] , [298] Mobile phone data [29] ; estimation [258] Effect of NPIs Effects on: children ...…”

“…This is the largest group of comments and/or perspectives. We find articles focused on a range of medical specialities: mental health care [254] , [257] , [261] , [273] , [274] , [275] , emergency care [276] , [277] , substance abuse [253] , [263] , [278] , [279] , [280] , oncological care [264] , [281] , health care practices [255] , [259] , [262] , [282] , [283] , [284] , pediatric care [283] , [285] , and other care [256] , [260] , [268] , [286] , [287] , [288] .…”

A systematic literature review of clinical trials and therapeutic applications of ibogaine

“…Moreover, insufficient evidence still exists for routine pharmacological management of CUD or stimulant use disorders (Crits-Christoph et al, 2018;Lee et al, 2018; National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 2018). Although psychosocial treatments show efficacy in treating CUD and stimulant use disorders (Zastepa et al, 2020), the field needs effective pharmacotherapeutic interventions (Dürsteler et al, 2015).…”

Non-pharmaceutical interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic: a rapid review

“…While the large majority of articles provide a general outlook to a specific topic, some draw from a specific context. In fact, we find 6 comments focused from observations in USA [252][253][254][255][256][257], 3 in Italy [258][259][260], 2 in Canada [261,262] and the UK [263,264]. We have then articles that focus on Africa [265], China [266], Ethiopia [267] , France [259], Poland [268], Taiwan [269], Vietnam [270],South Korea [271] and Singapore [272].…”