Predisposing, enabling and need factors of heroin addicts' using prescribed methadone or buprenorphine for a year or longer: An exploratory study of drug treatment for heroin addicts in the Swedish welfare system

Aim This exploratory study draws on national register data for 2,638 opioid users from 2004-2008 to examine whether or not certain predisposing, enabling and need factors are associated with taking methadone or buprenorphine continuously on doctor's orders for one year or more. Design Chi-square analysis, one-way Anova and logistic regression methods were used to explore the association between self-reported demographic characteristics, alcohol/drug use severity, substance use disorder treatment history, criminal justice history, level of mental health symptomatology, mental health treatment history, and whether or not adult opioid users had taken methadone or buprenorphine continuously on doctor's orders for one year or longer. Results Having a job and having had more voluntary treatment episodes were significantly associated with using methadone or buprenorphine. Those opioid users who had a job were 19 times more likely to be on methadone or buprenorphine than opiate users who did not have a job. Conclusions In our study, individuals who were working were significantly more likely to medicate against their opioid abuse. This suggests that they may be more socially integrated than their non-medicating counterparts.