Decreased Homelessness among Women Involved in the Criminal Legal System after a COVID-19 Housing Intervention.

The COVID-19 outbreak fueled unprecedented public health efforts to mitigate the spread of infection, including rapid provision of non-congregate housing to people experiencing homelessness. People on community supervision (criminal probation or parole) have high levels of homelessness due to housing discrimination, poverty and racism, and are among the groups most vulnerable to COVID-19. We examined housing status in a cohort of women with probation histories in Alameda County, CA before and after the COVID-19 outbreak (N=204).

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Defining what we mean by "polysubstance use.".

The rise in drug overdoses and harms associated with the use of more than one substance has led to increased use of the term "polysubstance use" among researchers, clinicians, and public health officials. However, the term retains no consistent definition across contexts. The current authors convened from disciplines including sociology, epidemiology, neuroscience, and addiction psychiatry to propose a recommended definition of polysubstance use.

Understanding polysubstance use at the daily and event levels: protocol for a mixed-methods qualitative and ecological momentary assessment study in a community-based sample of people who use illicit drugs in Oakland, California, USA.

Introduction: Polysubstance use is extremely common among people who use illicit opioids in the USA. It is associated with poor substance use treatment outcomes, infectious disease risk and alarming rates of drug overdose. Nearly all extant literature examines polysubstance use over broad time frames, such as 30 days or 6 months.

"Just another thing for me to stress off of": Responses to unintentional fentanyl use in a community-based study of people who use opioids.

The unintentional consumption of fentanyl is a serious health risk for people who use illicit drugs. In an ongoing community-based study regarding polysubstance use among people who use opioids, we found that 17 of 58 (29%) of participants who did not endorse fentanyl use in the past thirty days tested positive for fentanyl during point-of-care urinalysis (UA). This paper describes the reactions and experiences of participants who were informed they had consumed fentanyl unintentionally, as well as how the research team handled the unanticipated occurrence of discordant results.

Perceived healthcare quality and contraception utilization among persons recently incarcerated.

Purpose: Previously incarcerated women have specific gender and physiologic needs that are poorly addressed on community re-entry. The objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship between contraception use and perceived healthcare quality post-incarceration. Additionally, we examine the association between social determinants of health and contraception use post-incarceration.