Francesca Melis

• Myklebust, Lars Henrik Ryther; Eide, Desiree; Arnevik, Espen Ajo; Dadras, Omid; De Pirro, Silvana & Ellefsen, Rune [Show all 14 contributors for this article] (2024). Evaluation of heroin-assisted treatment in Norway: protocol for a mixed methods study. BMC Health Services Research. ISSN 1472-6963. 24(1). doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-10767-w. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Background Opioid agonist treatment (OAT) for patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) has a convincing evidence base, although variable retention rates suggest that it may not be beneficial for all. One of the options to include more patients is the introduction of heroin-assisted treatment (HAT), which involves the prescribing of pharmaceutical heroin in a clinical supervised setting. Clinical trials suggest that HAT positively affects illicit drug use, criminal behavior, quality of life, and health. The results are less clear for longer-term outcomes such as mortality, level of function and social integration. This protocol describes a longitudinal evaluation of the introduction of HAT into the OAT services in Norway over a 5-year period. The main aim of the project is to study the individual, organizational and societal effects of implementing HAT in the specialized healthcare services for OUD. Methods The project adopts a multidisciplinary approach, where the primary cohort for analysis will consist of approximately 250 patients in Norway, observed during the period of 2022–2026. Cohorts for comparative analysis will include all HAT-patients in Denmark from 2010 to 2022 (N = 500) and all Norwegian patients in conventional OAT (N = 8300). Data comes from individual in-depth and semi-structured interviews, self-report questionnaires, clinical records, and national registries, collected at several time points throughout patients’ courses of treatment. Qualitative analyses will use a flexible inductive thematic approach. Quantitative analyses will employ a wide array of methods including bi-variate parametric and non-parametric tests, and various forms of multivariate modeling. Discussion The project’s primary strength lies in its comprehensive and longitudinal approach. It has the potential to reveal new insights on whether pharmaceutical heroin should be an integral part of integrated conventional OAT services to individually tailor treatments for patients with OUD. This could affect considerations about drug treatment even beyond HAT-specific topics, where an expanded understanding of why some do not succeed with conventional OAT will strengthen the knowledge base for drug treatment in general. Results will be disseminated to the scientific community, clinicians, and policy makers. Trial registration The study was approved by the Norwegian Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REK), ref.nr.:195733.

• Melis, Francesca; Hesse, Morten; Eide, Desiree; Thylstrup, Birgitte; Tjagvad, Christian & Brummer, Julie Elizabeth [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2023). Who receives heroin-assisted treatment? A comparison of patients receiving opioid maintenance treatment in Denmark. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. ISSN 0376-8716. 254. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2023.111051. Full text in Research Archive
• Biagioni, Silvia; Baroni, Marina; Melis, Francesca; Baldini, Federica; Menicucci, Danilo & Potente, Roberta [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2023). Cyberbullying Roles and the Use of Psychoactive Substances: A Systematic Review. Adolescent Research Review. ISSN 2363-8346. doi: 10.1007/s40894-023-00205-z.
• Biagioni, Silvia; Baldini, Federica; Baroni, Marina; Cerrai, Sonia; Melis, Francesca & Potente, Roberta [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2022). Adolescents’ Psychoactive Substance Use During the First COVID-19 Lockdown: A Cross Sectional Study in Italy. Child and Youth Care Forum. ISSN 1053-1890. doi: 10.1007/s10566-022-09701-0.

View all works in Cristin