Lisa Strada

Trimbos-instituut · Drug Monitoring and Policy

This report describes the situation in five European countries regarding the use of SO and the available preparedness methods for dealing with potential increases in SO use and incidents. The purpose of the report is to identify good practices as well as gaps in national and local synthetic-opioid preparedness strategies. The added value of conduct...

There has been a drastic increase in the use and associated harms of synthetic opioids (SOs) in the past two decades worldwide. This issue highlights the importance in paying attention to different interventions to mitigate the burden of SO use. The European research project, ’Strengthening Synthetic Opioids health systems’ preparedness to respond...

This report is based on an investigation conducted among employees of four types of harm reduction services in the Netherlands in 2021. Qualitative data was collected by means of interviews and questionnaires from employees from 17 drug consumption rooms (DCRs), 53 opioid substition centres, 17 heroine-assisted therapy (HAT) units, and 29 needle- a...

Background Patient reported outcomes (PRO) can help to reduce uncertainties about hepatitis C (HCV) treatment with direct-acting antivirals (DAA) among people who inject drugs and increase the treatment uptake in this high-risk group. Besides clinical data, this study analysed for the first time PRO in a real-world sample of patients in opioid agon...

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is highly prevalent among people who inject drugs (PWID). Accurate data on HCV prevalence and incidence rates among patients receiving opioid substitution treatment (OST) are needed to estimate the current and future burden of HCV infections in this high-risk population. Methods: Baseline data from r...

Background Knowledge of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients receiving opioid substitution treatment (OST) is limited and fragmented. The present study examines the HRQOL of a large national sample of OST patients in Germany and sociodemographic and clinical correlates. Methods Cross-sectional data on the HRQOL of 2176 OST patients w...

Background: Opioid substitution treatment (OST) is an evidence-based intervention for patients with opioid dependence. Quality of life (QOL) research of patients undergoing OST is lacking a treatment-specific psychodiagnostic questionnaire to assess the QOL of this target group. Aim of the presented study was to develop a suitable QOL instrument fo...

Franke, G.H.1, Strada, L.2, Schulte, B.2, Reimer, J. 2,3 & Verthein, U.2 1 – Psychology of Rehabilitation, University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg & Stendal, Stendal, Germany 2 - Centre for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany 3 – Health Nord, Hospital Group, Bremen, Germany OSTQOL...

Purpose: Opioid dependence is a chronic relapsing disorder. Despite increasing research on quality of life (QOL) in people with opioid dependence, little attention has been paid to the instruments used. This systematic review examines the suitability of QOL instruments for use in opioid-dependent populations and the instruments' quality. Methods:...

Background: Quality of life (QOL) of patients in opioid substitution treatment (OST) is increasingly being addressed in research. However, no disease- or treatment-specific instrument is available to assess the QOL of this target population. The purpose of this project was to develop the first QOL instrument for OST patients. Methods: Focus grou...

Background: Studies on the process of regular completion of Agonist Opioid Treatment (AOT) are scarce. Little is known about the patients aiming to terminate AOT, their current life circumstances, and factors associated with successful completion. In the present naturalistic prospective study, we monitor the process of AOT termination and aim to id...

Background: Hepatitis C virus infection is highly prevalent among people who inject drugs. Opioid substitution therapy, the standard treatment for opioid dependence, provides an excellent opportunity for the treatment of hepatitis C virus infection due to the close and regular contact between patients and clinicians. However, there is little resea...

Background: Non-prescribed use of opioid substitution medication (NPU) appears to represent a relevant source of opioids among European drug users. Little is known about the prevalence of NPU in Germany and possible differences between subgroups of opioid users. The present study examines NPU and other drug use patterns among drug consumption room...

Background: Injecting drug users (IDUs) represent a major subpopulation of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected people in developed countries. Yet their uptake to treatment is generally low despite well-documented effectiveness of HCV treatment among former and active IDUs. The present study represents the first attempt to describe the HCV treatment c...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are highly prevalent amongst people who inject drugs (PWID). Despite well documented evidence of its effectiveness, suggested cost-effectiveness, and potential to reduce HCV prevalence rates, the uptake of antiviral HCV treatment by PWID is low. This nonsystematic literature review describes factors associated wit...