We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Practitioner perspectives on working with older patients in opioid agonist treatment (OAT) in Norway: opportunities and challenges.
- Authors
Todd-Kvam, John; Clausen, Thomas
- Abstract
Background: Norway has a growing proportion of ageing opioid agonist treatment (OAT) patients, with 42% of the 8300 Norwegian OAT patients aged over 50 in 2022. This study aims to explore practitioners' views and experiences from treatment of ageing OAT patients. Methods: Data were collected as a series of semi-structured interviews with treatment staff (roles interviewed: doctor, psychologist, social worker, nurse, and learning disability nurse). Participants were recruited from three OAT outpatient clinics, one with an urban catchment area and two with a mix of urban and rural. The interviews incorporated questions on patients' somatic and mental health, strengths and weaknesses of the service for this group, and patients' quality of life. Results: Older patients were perceived to be more often stable in terms of substance use and housing situation, but also experiencing some key challenges in terms of cognitive impairment, loneliness and isolation, and comorbidities. Both the practitioner-patient relationship and healthcare interactions outside OAT had the potential to impact treatment quality positively or negatively depending on how they were managed. Conclusions: Treating older patients in a way that respects and enhances their dignity is important. We argue that this requires better services for those whose functioning is impacted by cognitive impairment/dementia, an age-informed treatment model for this patient group, along with urgent work to improve municipal-level services given practitioners describe them as unacceptable in certain areas.
- Subjects
NORWAY; OLDER patients; LEARNING disabilities; SOCIAL workers; RURAL health clinics; OATS; OPIOIDS
- Publication
Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 2024, Vol 19, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
1940-0632
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1186/s13722-024-00473-7