Accessibility needs among people with Opioid Use Disorder: Disability justice in treatment with injectable opioids

Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes, Ph.D.
Scientist, Advancing Health
Professor, School of Population and Public Health, UBC
Canada Research Chair (Tier 1), Person-Centered Care in Addiction and Public Health

Jennifer Gagnon, Ph.D.
Lecturer, School of Journalism, Writing, and Media, UBC

Opioid use disorder and disability are lifelong co-occurring conditions that share several challenges, including barriers to readily available and effective care. Within the OUD continuum of care, injectable opioid agonist treatments (iOAT), either as diacetylmorphine (i.e. pharmaceutical heroin) or hydromorphone, have been demonstrated to be safe and effective treatment options for those in which conventional treatments are ineffective or undesirable. Despite this, current physical, social, and institutional landscapes are not designed with the needs of people with disabilities in mind. To our knowledge intersections with disability and accessibility have been overlooked, and not investigated within iOAT. Therefore, the present preliminary data aims to explore accessibility barriers among iOAT clients who self-identify as having a disability.

This seminar will present preliminary data from the Program of Outcomes Research on Treatment with Injectables for Addiction (PORTIA) to discuss how accessibility barriers intersect with injectable opioid agonist treatments (iOAT).

This is a hybrid event, you may attend in person or virtually. Please register and indicate your preference.

Meeting Registration – Zoom