The meaningful Participation of Older People Who Use Drugs (OPWUD)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Making space for the meaningful participation of older people who use drugs in decision making.
IRAS ID
254717
Contact name
Joseph Tay wee teck
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Glasgow
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
NA, NA
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
On the 6th of September, 2018, the Scottish Government launched a new drug and alcohol treatment strategy. This strategy has many challenges to meet including improving the health of an increasing number of older people who use drugs (OPWUD) defined as those over the age of 35. In 2017, 70% of all drug related deaths (DRDs) in Scotland were OPWUD. The importance of addressing the health needs of this group becomes more urgent when we consider that Scotland currently has the highest DRD rate in both the UK and the EU.
The new Scottish drug and alcohol treatment strategy focusses on evidence based harm reduction responses, a
human rights based approach to service provision and tackling the inequalities underlying problematic substance
use. Fundamental to the success of the new strategy will be the meaningful participation of OPWUD in
policies, interventions and decisions which affect them.Pervasive and enduring stigmatising perceptions of OPWUD within organisational cultures and among frontline
workers need to be overcome for meaningful participation of this group to become reality. These widespread
perceptions of OPWUD throughout societies include that they are inherently dishonest, lacking in credibility, morally
deficient and pathologically unable to make good health decisions.Described here is an insider action research (IAR) project using a critical systems thinking (CST) approach to address these organisational challenges. The IAR approach used as the CI is embedded within the organisational structure under study. A CST approach will be used to understand the problem, establish the boundaries of the study, identify stakeholders and define the research questions. Three cycles of IAR will be carried out involving interviews, online questionnaires and a focus group. The output will be consensus based recommendations for organisational change to enable the meaningful participation of OPWUD, necessary for them to access their human rights to health.
REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1
REC reference
19/ES/0128
Date of REC Opinion
28 Oct 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion