'It's not what you'd term normal smoking': a qualitative exploration of language used to describe heated tobacco product use and associated user identity.

Background And Aims: Tobacco and nicotine marketplaces have diversified over the past decade, including with the introduction of heated tobacco products (HTPs), such as the brand IQOS. HTPs typically heat tobacco to generate an aerosol that is inhaled. HTP nomenclature is lacking, and how HTP users define and identify themselves remains understudied.

'I perceive it to be less harmful, I have no idea if it is or not:' a qualitative exploration of the harm perceptions of IQOS among adult users.

Background: Harm perceptions of tobacco and nicotine products can influence their use and could be targeted by policies to change behaviour. IQOS was introduced to the UK in 2016, and there is little independent qualitative research on IQOS harm perceptions. This study explored the perceived health harms of IQOS to users and those exposed to the emissions, what shapes these perceptions, and what participants wanted to know about the harms of IQOS.

Factors that influence smokers' and ex-smokers' use of IQOS: a qualitative study of IQOS users and ex-users in the UK.

Background: One of the most widely available heated tobacco products is IQOS by Philip Morris International. However, there is a lack of independent research exploring IQOS initiation and subsequent use among smokers and ex-smokers.

Aims: To (1) explore the reasons why smokers and ex-smokers use and continue/discontinue IQOS and (2) consider implications for future research and policy.

Opioid users' willingness to receive prolonged-release buprenorphine depot injections for opioid use disorder.

Aims: Prolonged-release implantable and depot injection formulations of buprenorphine are very recent developments in the treatment of opioid use disorder. Such formulations remove the need for daily dosing and provide patients with sustained concentrations of buprenorphine over a period of weeks or months. We explored opioid users' personal willingness to receive prolonged-release buprenorphine depot injections and factors influencing their interest.

Depot buprenorphine injections for opioid use disorder: Patient information needs and preferences.

Introduction And Aims: There has been significant recent investment in new medications for opioid use disorder, including buprenorphine depot injections. Patients and professionals need good quality, independent information on medications to help them make informed treatment decisions. This paper aims to understand patients' information needs and preferences in relation to buprenorphine depot injections.

Prolonged-release opioid agonist therapy: qualitative study exploring patients' views of 1-week, 1-month, and 6-month buprenorphine formulations.

Background: Options for opioid agonist therapy (OAT) are expanding with the development of prolonged-release (also known as extended-release) 1-week, 1-month, and 6-month formulations of buprenorphine. There is an assumption that patients will welcome these new treatments and medication adherence will correspondingly increase. However, there has been little research exploring patients' views of prolonged-release buprenorphine.

Factors influencing recruitment to a randomised placebo-controlled trial of oral naltrexone and extended release implant naltrexone: Qualitative study.

Aims: To understand the influences on recruitment to the Naltrexone Enhanced Addiction Treatment (NEAT) study, a randomised placebo-controlled trial of extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX) implants for opioid use disorder (OUD), to learn lessons for the design and conduct of similar future research.

Methods: 29 face-to-face, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with patients recruited to NEAT (n = 6), patients not recruited (n = 11), researchers who designed the trial (n = 5), and staff who delivered the trial (n = 7). The social marketing mix was used as a framework to guide the data analyses.

Implementing and delivering personalised budgets for drug and alcohol users: A narrative systematic review.

Personalised budgets have historically been provided to groups of people with varying long-term health and social care needs. Since 2010, there has been increasing interest in providing personal budgets (PBs) to individuals with a history of drug and alcohol use in the UK, reflecting the policy and practice shift towards whole person recovery from substance use. However, information on implementing, delivering, and receiving such initiatives with this group is limited.

Patient views of opioid pharmacotherapy biodelivery systems: Qualitative study to assist treatment decision making.

The technology for delivering opioid pharmacotherapy (OPT) is expanding. It is important to know what OPT patients think of these developments and to find ways of enabling patients and clinicians to make informed decisions about which biodelivery system to choose. We explored the views of current and former OPT patients with a history of heroin use to identify factors influencing their preferences regarding routes of OPT administration.

Implants and depot injections for treating opioid dependence: Qualitative study of people who use or have used heroin.

Background: Long-acting opioid pharmacotherapy (OPT) is presumed to offer benefits over more conventional OPT formulations. This paper analyzes the views and experiences of people who use or have used heroin in order to explore two novel systems for delivering long-acting OPT: implants and depot injections. New materialism theorizing is used to interpret and frame the findings.

Do women with complex alcohol and other drug use histories want women-only residential treatment?

Background: Women-only addiction services tend to be provided on a poorly evidenced assumption that women want single-sex treatment. We draw upon women's expectations and experiences of women-only residential rehabilitation to stimulate debate on this issue.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 19 women aged 25-44 years [currently in treatment (n = 9), successfully completed treatment (n = 5), left treatment prematurely (n = 5)].

Improving recruitment to pharmacological trials for illicit opioid use: findings from a qualitative focus group study.

Aim: To explore potential study participants' views on willingness to join clinical trials of pharmacological interventions for illicit opioid use to inform and improve future recruitment strategies.

Design: Qualitative focus group study [six groups: oral methadone (two groups); buprenorphine tablets (two groups); injectable opioid agonist treatment (one group); and former opioid agonist treatment (one group)].

Settings: Drug and alcohol services and a peer support recovery service (London, UK).

Qualitative exploration of relationships between peers in residential addiction treatment.

Relationships between peers are often considered central to the therapeutic process, yet there is relatively little empirical research either on the nature of peer-to-peer relationships within residential treatment or on how those relationships generate positive behaviour change or facilitate recovery. In this paper, we explore relationships between peers in residential addiction treatment, drawing upon the concept of social capital to frame our analyses. Our study was undertaken during 2015 and 2016 in two English residential treatment services using the same therapeutic community-informed model of treatment.

Survivorship care and support following treatment for breast cancer: a multi-ethnic comparative qualitative study of women's experiences.

Background: As the number of breast cancer survivors continues to rise, Western populations become more ethnically and socially diverse and healthcare resources become ever-more stretched, follow-up that focuses on monitoring for recurrence is no longer viable. New models of survivorship care need to ensure they support self-management and are culturally appropriate across diverse populations. This study explored experiences and expectations of a multi-ethnic sample of women with breast cancer regarding post-treatment care, in order to understand potential barriers to receiving care and inform new models of survivorship care.

Associations between injecting illicit drugs into the femoral vein and deep vein thrombosis: A case control study.

Introduction And Aims: Injecting drug use is a risk factor for deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and people who inject drugs commonly report injecting into the femoral vein. However, it is unclear whether the act of inserting a needle into the femoral vein or the pharmacodynamic properties of the injected drug increases DVT risk. We aimed to quantify the strength of association between injecting illicit drugs into the femoral vein and the odds of acquiring ileo-femoral DVT.

Qualitative evaluation of a novel contingency management-related intervention for patients receiving supervised injectable opioid treatment.

Aim: To evaluate a novel contingency management (CM)-related intervention for people experiencing complex drug problems, thereby increasing understanding of CM implementation in real-world settings. Objectives are to provide new insights into (i) how context influences intervention delivery; (ii) aspects of intervention delivery that influence outcomes; and (iii) intervention outcomes.

Design: Qualitative realist evaluation of a novel CM-related intervention: conditional budgets (CB).

Injecting drug use in prison: prevalence and implications for needle exchange policy.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore prison drug injecting prevalence, identify any changes in injecting prevalence and practice during imprisonment and explore views on prison needle exchange.

Design/methodology/approach: An empirical prospective cohort survey conducted between 2006 and 2008. The study involved a random sample of 267 remand and sentenced prisoners from a large male category B prison in England where no prison needle exchange operates.

Exploring motivations to stop injecting in English prisons: qualitative research with former male prisoners.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the cessation of injecting amongst male drug users when in prison in England and uncovers what influenced this behaviour and why.

Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 male drug users on release from prison to explore what happened to their injecting drug use in prison. The research was conducted from a pragmatic harm reduction approach using grounded theory.

Cross examination of clinicians at coroners' inquests following deaths in custody.

Purpose: This article draws upon the international literature to focus on the investigation of prisoner deaths in England and Wales, concentrating on clinician involvement in this process.

Design/methodology/approach: This is a viewpoint paper regarding clinician involvement in coroner investigations of prisoner deaths in England and Wales.

Findings: Compared to colleagues practising in the community, the authors suggest that there is a higher burden of investigation upon clinicians practicing in secure environments and recommend improved training for prison clinicians regarding expectations of the coroner's inquest and also a system whereby questioning in coroners' courts is directed through the coroner.

Comparison of methadone and buprenorphine for opiate detoxification (LEEDS trial): a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Many opiate users require prescribed medication to help them achieve abstinence, commonly taking the form of a detoxification regime. In UK prisons, drug users are nearly universally treated for their opiate use by primary care clinicians, and once released access GP services where 40% of practices now treat drug users. There is a paucity of evidence evaluating methadone and buprenorphine (the two most commonly prescribed agents in the UK) for opiate detoxification.

Involving users in the design of a randomised controlled trial of an intervention to promote early presentation in breast cancer: qualitative study.

Background: The purpose of this study was to explore women's views of the design of a large pragmatic cost-effectiveness randomised controlled trial of the policy of offering a health professional-delivered intervention to promote early presentation with breast symptoms in older women and thereby improve survival, with a view to informing protocol development. The trial will recruit over 100,000 healthy women aged 67+, and outcome data will be collected on those who develop breast cancer. The scale of the trial and the need for long-term follow-up presented a number of design challenges in relation to obtaining consent, ascertaining and contacting participants who developed breast cancer, and collecting outcome data.

The Leeds Evaluation of Efficacy of Detoxification Study (LEEDS) Prisons Project Study: protocol for a randomised controlled trial comparing methadone and buprenorphine for opiate detoxification.

Background: In the United Kingdom (UK), there is an extensive market for the class 'A' drug heroin and many heroin users spend time in prison. People addicted to heroin often require prescribed medication when attempting to cease their drug use. The most commonly used detoxification agents in UK prisons are currently buprenorphine and methadone, both are recommended by national clinical guidelines.

The Leeds Evaluation of Efficacy of Detoxification Study (LEEDS) prisons project: a randomised controlled trial comparing dihydrocodeine and buprenorphine for opiate detoxification.

Background: Many opiate users entering British prisons require prescribed medication to help them achieve abstinence. This commonly takes the form of a detoxification regime. Previously, a range of detoxification agents have been prescribed without a clear evidence base to recommend a drug of choice.

Contradictions and misperceptions: an exploration of injecting practice, cleanliness, risk, and partnership in the lives of women drug users.

We report the findings of an in-depth interview study conducted with 45 women injecting drug users in Britain. Women described experiences of injecting themselves and being injected by others, including instances of bodily harm and pain. Cleanliness when injecting was an issue of particular importance.