Telehealth for people who inject drugs: An acceptable method of treatment but challenging to access

Abstract

Background

While telemedicine is seen as an emerging practice that will outlast the COVID-19 pandemic, it can reduce health services for those with limited internet and technological devices access or sufficient literacy.

Objective(s)

The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of using telehealth with people who inject drugs (PWID).

Methods

A survey on availability and accessibility of different methods of communication was administered to a sample of PWID from an ongoing longitudinal cohort in Montréal, Canada.

Results

Among the 96 respondents, phone calls were generally considered acceptable (89.6%) although availability was low (50%). Acceptability and availability of social media were 26% and 41.7%, respectively. Internet-based communication applications were considered acceptable to use for telehealth in 28.1% of participants, even if not frequently available (8.3%).

Conclusions

Telehealth is an acceptable form of treatment for PWID, but may be challenging due to low availability of phone or internet access.

Keywords:

• People who inject drugs
• telehealth
• phone
• internet
• social media

Acknowledgments

We thank Rachel Bouchard and Marie-Eve Turcotte, and the other staff working at the HEPCO research site. We also thank the study participants; without them, this research would not be possible.

Declaration of interest

JB is reporting having received advisor fees from Gilead Sciences and AbbVie and a research grant from Gilead Sciences, outside of the current work. VML is reporting having received advisor fees from AbbVie and research grants from Gilead Sciences and Merck, outside of the current work. SDR has not conflict of interest to disclose.

Funding

The Hepatitis Cohort (HEPCO) is supported through the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR, grants MOP135260, MOP210232 and SMN139149) and the Réseau Sida et Maladies Infectieuses du Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQ-S, grant FRSQ5227). SDR was funded by the CanHepC’s Summer Student Fellowship program. JB holds the Canada Research Chair in Addiction Medicine. VML is supported by Clinical Research Scholar – Junior 1 program (FRQ-S).