Patient and clinician's ratings of improvement in methadone-maintained patients: Differing perspectives?

2011

Patient and Clinician Perspectives on Improvement in Methadone Treatment

Sample size: 110 publication 10 minutes Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Joan Trujols, Núria Siñol, Ioseba Iraurgi, Francisca Batlle, Joan Guàrdia, José Pérez de los Cobos

Primary Institution: Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau

The study aims to evaluate the concordance between improvement assessments by clinical staff and patients in methadone maintenance treatment.

Patients' perceptions of improvement in methadone maintenance treatment show low concordance with clinical staff assessments.

Patients reported a significantly higher percentage of improvement compared to assessments by nurses and psychiatrists.
Concordance between patient and clinician assessments was low, indicating differing perspectives on treatment outcomes.
Statistical analysis showed significant differences in perceived improvement between patients and clinical staff.

This study found that patients on methadone often feel they are improving more than their doctors or nurses think they are.

Patients and clinical staff completed scales to assess perceived improvement in methadone treatment.

Potential bias due to the single-center study design and reliance on self-reported measures.

The study's cross-sectional design limits causal inferences and findings may not generalize to other MMT programs.

Participants were 110 methadone-maintained patients, predominantly male (73.6%), with a mean age of 39.4 years.

p = 0.0086

95% CI = 0.26-0.55

p<0.05

Access the complete publication on the publisher's website