Exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare and substance use service access among women who inject drugs: a qualitative study

Original research
by
Cooper, Lyra et al

Release Date

2023

Geography

USA

Language of Resource

English

Full Text Available

Yes

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

Yes

Peer Reviewed

Yes

Objective

Women who inject drugs (WWID) face known barriers to healthcare and substance use service engagement, which pre-date the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 on WWID’s engagement with healthcare and substance use services, however, remains understudied.

Findings/Key points

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted service engagement for WWID through service closures, pandemic safety measures restricting in-person service provision, and concerns related to contracting COVID-19 at service sites. However, participants also described various service adaptations, including telehealth, multi-month prescriptions, and expanded service delivery modalities (e.g., mobile and home delivery of harm reduction services), which overwhelmingly increased service engagement.

Design/methods

In-depth interviews (n=27)

Keywords

Sex/Gender
Injecting drugs
Wrap-around services
Barriers and enablers
About PWUD