Feasibility of Testing Client Preferences for Accessing Injectable Opioid Agonist Treatment (iOAT): A Pilot Study

Sophia Dobischok; Rebecca K Metcalfe; Elizabeth Angela Matzinger; Kurt Lock; Scott Harrison; Scott MacDonald; Sherif Amara; Martin T Schechter; Nick Bansback; Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes

doi:10.2147/PPA.S391532

Feasibility of Testing Client Preferences for Accessing Injectable Opioid Agonist Treatment (iOAT): A Pilot Study

Patient Prefer Adherence. 2022 Dec 23:16:3405-3413. doi: 10.2147/PPA.S391532. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Sophia Dobischok¹, Rebecca K Metcalfe¹, Elizabeth Angela Matzinger¹, Kurt Lock^{1

2}, Scott Harrison³, Scott MacDonald³, Sherif Amara⁴, Martin T Schechter^{1

5}, Nick Bansback^{1

5}, Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Health Evaluation & Outcome Sciences, Providence Health Care, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
² BC Centre for Disease Control, Provincial Health Services Authority, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
³ Providence Health Care, Providence Crosstown Clinic, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁴ SafePoint Supervised Consumption Site, Fraser Health Authority, Surrey, BC, Canada.
⁵ School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Abstract

Purpose: Injectable opioid agonist treatment (iOAT) is an effective treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). To our knowledge, no research has systematically studied client preferences for accessing iOAT. Incorporating preferences could help meet the heterogenous needs of clients and make addiction care more person-centred. This paper presents a pilot study of a best-worst scaling (BWS) preference elicitation survey that aimed to assess if the survey was feasible and accessible for our population and to test that the survey could gather sound data that would suit our planned analyses.

Patients and methods: Current and former iOAT clients (n = 18) completed a BWS survey supported by an interviewer using a think-aloud approach. The survey was administered on PowerPoint, and responses and contextual field notes were recorded manually. Think-aloud audio was recorded on Audacity.

Results: Clients' feedback fell into five categories: framing of the task, accessibility, conceptualization of attributes and levels, formatting, and behaviour predicting questions. Survey repetitiveness was the most consistent feedback. The data simulation showed that 100 responses should provide an adequate sample size.

Conclusion: This pilot demonstrates the type of analysis that can be done with BWS in our population, suggests that such analysis is feasible, and highlights the importance of the interviewer and participant working side-by-side throughout the task.

Keywords: best worst scaling; diacetylmorphine; hydromorphone; injectable opioid agonist treatment; opioid agonist treatment; opioid use disorder.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Canadian Institute of Health Research Project Grant [F18-00932], the Canada Foundation for Innovation [JELF-CRC 40559] and Canada Research Chairs [F21-00475]. The funders were not involved in any research activities relevant to this paper.