NewRoFoundation

The COVID-19 pandemic has helped spotlight online health resources such as telehealth appointments and virtual counseling. But, as Hayden Roberge has found, web-based clinical treatment isn’t new. Roberge and her mentors identified key information such as the role demographics play in the success of such treatments, as well as the particular drugs that were found to have the most positive impact as a result.

Roberge has spent the past few months working alongside her mentors. She analyzed data from a 2003 clinical trial that tested the effectiveness of a web-based psychosocial treatment on substance-use disorders.

The study focused on web-based treatments, including individual therapy sessions, group therapy sessions and mindful-meditation practices for opioid abusers. The latter was found to be extremely important in helping trial participants with chronic pain, Roberge noted.

“We isolated patients who identified with opioid-use disorders and chronic pain to determine baseline differences within the population, and observed the effects of the behavioral treatment on the opioid use of the subset,” said Roberge.

The data analyzed by Roberge and her team were taken prior to the spread of COVID-19, which has exacerbated the opioid epidemic in the United States. Her findings have long-term implications.

“From this study, we learned that there are demographic differences between drug users regarding recreational drug use and psychiatric symptoms that need to be addressed in substance-abuse treatments in the future,” she said.

In addition to demographic differences such as race and age, Roberge found that when a drug called Benzodiazepines was used by trial participants, drug use significantly decreased after a period of virtual counseling.

“This study is to help to inform the discussion on web-based treatments for opioid-dependent individuals who may experience more pain-related concerns and require different treatment options to combat the complex interplay of pain and opioid use,” added Roberge.