Improving substance use treatment trajectories for men who have sex with men

British Columbia is currently in the process of developing and implementing new evidence-based policies and clinical reforms to address problematic substance use, including new: (i) pharmacotherapy approaches (e.g., replacement therapies); (ii) clinical practice guidelines; and (iii) integrated service delivery models of care. While men who have sex with men (MSM) represent a key group with historically high levels of substance use disorder and subsequent social and health-related sequelae (e.g., increased rates of HIV and sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections), there remains a gap in our knowledge about how best to design and implement services for today's generations of various sub-groups of MSM who use drugs (e.g., MSM who are: young; Indigenous; economically deprived).

Dr. Knight's five-year population health research program will adapt health policy and service delivery practices to improve substance use treatment trajectories for key groups of MSM who use drugs and are at risk for severe health and/or social consequences (i.e., the criteria for substance use disorder, as defined under DSM-V criteria). The aim will be to identify the most efficacious and scalable combinations of strategies to adapt interventions that respond to MSM's individual needs and broader social and structural conditions. This approach to implementation science offers a way to go beyond describing the problem and to focus on building an evidence base for implementing and adapting context-sensitive and population-specific solutions into routine policy and practice.

With collaborators representing the BC Ministry of Health, Vancouver Coastal Health, BC Centre for Disease Control and YouthCO HIV/Hep C Society and the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, as well as through the engagement of the BC Centre on Substance Use's Community Advisory Board, Dr. Knight's findings will be used to inform the development of policies (including clinical and provincial guidelines) to effectively scale up and integrate services that have the capacity to improve substance use treatment trajectories for MSM. Contributions to new knowledge will include the identification of the individual, social and structural factors shaping MSM's ability to reduce problematic drug use and prevent severe health and social outcomes (e.g., HIV and/or Hep C). Study outputs will also be assessed at an annual Stakeholder Workshop in which recommendations will be developed and refined for clinical and provincial guidelines.