The development and validation of the pandemic medication-assisted treatment questionnaire for the assessment of the impact of pandemic crises on medication management and administration for patients with opioid use disorders

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic and the globally applied restriction measures mainly affect vulnerable population groups, such as patients with opioid use disorders. Towards inhibiting SARS-COV-2 spread, the medication-assisted treatment (MAT) programs follow strategies targeting reduction of in-person psychosocial interventions, and increase of take-home doses. However, there is no available instrument to examine the impact of such modifications on diverse health aspects of patients under MAT. The aim of this study was to develop and validate the PANdemic Medication-Assisted Treatment Questionnaire (PANMAT/Q) to address the pandemic effect on the management and administration of MAT. In total, 463 patients under ΜΑΤ participated. Our findings indicate that PANMAT/Q has been successfully validated exerting reliability and validity. It can be completed within approximately 5 minutes, and its implementation in research settings is advocated. PANMAT/Q could serve as a useful tool to identify the needs of patients under MAT being in high risk for relapse and overdose.

Socio-demographic variables affect the management and administration of opioid agonists in patients under medication for addiction treatment during pandemic

“…Patients with severe psychopathology and serious pathological disorders, which impaired their ability to attend the MAT program, were excluded from the study. All patients anonymously completed the self-reported PANMAT/Q to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management and administration of MAT (Leventelis et al, 2022).…”

“…Every item is calculated with a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (i.e., not at all) to 5 (i.e., very much). The reliability of the questionnaire was high, as indicated by the value of Cronbach's α = 0.85 (Leventelis et al, 2022). Demographic data, including gender, age, educational level, nationality, family status, place of residence, time attending OKANA programs, age at opioid drug use initiation, duration of addictive substance use before MAT, chronic diseases, and in ammation due to SARS-CoV-2 infection, were obtained.…”

“…However, there is a great need for the acquisition of such information by professionals in MAT programs to avoid patients being at high risk for relapse and fatal drug overdose in an evolving context such as the COVID-19 pandemic. On that basis, this study aimed to apply an already validated instrument, such as the self-reported PANdemic Medication-Assisted Treatment Questionnaire (PANMAT/Q) (Leventelis et al, 2022), to offer insight towards the parameters/dimensions that mediate the management and administration of MAT during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in correlation to sociodemographic variables. It is expected that PANMAT/Q could serve as a valuable tool for patients under MAT to avoid craving and opioid overdose.…”