Incorporating Patient-Reported Outcome Measures and Patient-Reported Experience Measures in Addiction Treatment...

Area of Science:

• Addiction Medicine
• Health Services Research
• Patient-Reported Outcomes

Background:

• Traditional substance use disorder (SUD) treatment outcome measurement relies on objective, provider-reported indicators.
• A growing emphasis exists on incorporating patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) to capture patient perspectives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of PROMs and PREMs in diverse SUD treatment settings in Belgium (OMER-BE study).
• To present the study design, baseline characteristics, attrition indicators, and implementation feasibility of PROMs/PREMs in residential and outpatient services.

Main Methods:

• A six-month prospective study of 189 treatment-seeking individuals with SUD across inpatient and outpatient services.
• Assessment of sociodemographic, clinical factors, and PROMs (recovery strengths, quality of life, global health) at baseline and 45, 90, 180 days.
• Attrition analysis at 45-day follow-up using ANOVA and chi-square tests.

Main Results:

• Baseline differences observed across treatment modalities in education, SUD history, primary substance, and ADHD symptoms.
• Outpatients showed lower recovery strength scores compared to inpatients.
• Attrition rate at 45 days was 36.6%; completers were older, more educated, lived alone, and had higher material resource scores.

Conclusions:

• Evaluating PROMs and PREMs is feasible in Belgian SUD treatment-seeking patients, though structural implementation challenges persist, particularly in outpatient settings.
• Routine monitoring of PROMs and PREMs offers potential to empower patients, providers, and policymakers by enhancing understanding of needs and treatment effectiveness.