Access All Areas - DVD resource for in and out of treatment drug users

NDARC Staff

Adam Winstock

Other Investigators

Alison Fettell (Health Matters)

Aims

The DVD was designed to be suitable for people already in treatment for opioid dependence and injecting drug users not currently in treatment. For people in treatment, the aim was to improve retention, the therapeutic relationship with service providers, and the clinical benefits attainable from treatment. The DVD also aimed to inform, attract and engage opioid dependent drug users into treatment, with a view to increasing their understanding of the benefits and risks of treatment and factors impacting the way treatment is delivered. The DVD provided clients with clinicians’ perspectives on how client stability is assessed and how decisions are made regarding a client’s dose and the provision of takeaway doses. In addition, information was provided on other common health problems encountered by injecting drug users such as blood-borne viruses (BBVs), pain and dental health problems, and the role of other professionals including pharmacists, paramedics, child protection workers, needle syringe programs, and the police. This paper reports on the pilot evaluation of a selection of questions from the DVD conducted with opioid drug users currently on methadone or buprenorphine treatment, as well as those not currently in treatment.

Design and Method

Following funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, a consultation process was undertaken with state and territory drug user organisations to identify core questions regarding treatment for opioid dependence. National experts were recruited from various disciplines to answer these questions on film. The answers provided by experts were non contentious since in general they reflected the existing evidence base or existing treatment guidelines that exist in Australia. The major problem in the development of the DVD was obtaining sufficiently succinct and simple explanations from experts who were each requested to keep their responses to between 2-5 minutes. The result is a 3½ hour DVD entitled Access All Areas including 47 common questions regarding opioid treatment and related areas, with each question answered by one to three clinical experts. The DVD is supplemented by a discussion section, case scenarios demonstrating consultations between a prescriber and patient and 3 user stories describing the benefits and problems of treatment from consumer perspective. Draft responses were subsequently edited by the researchers, an expert review group including consumer representatives. The DVD format was chosen to ensure as wide as possible access to the resource, particularly for people with low levels of literacy.

Benefits

A national resource is now available that provides an important new source of information on drug treatment and risks. It is suitable for those in treatment, those out of treatment, and has extensive utility as a teaching and training tool for doctors and other health care/allied health care workers. It provides a unique resource to help improve treatment uptake and improve everyone’s understanding and expectation of treatment. It aims to make treatment transparent.

Output

The Access All Areas DVD is available on request by emailing phd@nationalmailing.com.au, by telephoning 1800 020 103 (ext. 8654) or by visiting the website http://www.alcohol.gov.au.
Winstock, A.R., Lea, T. & Fettell, A. in press. Pilot evaluation of an educational DVD to engage in and out of treatment drug users. Drugs, Education, Policy and Prevention.

Funding

Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing