Satisfaction to community methadone maintenance treatment and its influencing factors among drug users

Objective To examine service provision in 15 community methadone maintenance treatment(MMT) clinics in Guangdong province and to identify factors influencing the satisfaction to the MMT among drug users.Methods We investigated 747 drug users from 15 community-based MMT clinics in Guangdong province during December 2011 to January 2012.We collected information on sociodemography of the participants,the services provided in MMT clinics,and the expectation of the participants towards the MMT clinics.A questionnaire including 18 items was used to assess the satisfaction to MMT clinics in the participants.Results Of all the participants,671 were male and 76 were female,with an average age of 38.34±5.84 years.Most of the participants reported the services provided by the MMT clinics,such as methadone related knowledge(95.72%),adjustment of methadone dose(96.12%),health education(89.02%),and consultation for rehabilitation(85.27%) and a part of participants reported the services of treatment planning(57.16%),human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) treatment(52.21%),and the referral service for hepatitis C diagnosis(61.85%) and treatment(50.47%).More than a half of the participants(54.22%) expected to use MMT service at night;25.03% expected to keep the status quo of the MMT clinics 18.21% excepted treatment to other diseases or referral services by the clinics;and 16.20% excepted the decrease of treatment cost.The average satisfaction score of the participants was 69.74±12.08.Multivariate linear regression analyses revealed that factors influencing satisfaction status of the participants included adjustment of methadone dose(β'=0.11),establishment of treatment plan(β'=0.08),discussion for rehabilitation(β'=0.09),education on methadone related knowledge at the enrollment(β'=0.08),health education(β'=0.09),hepatitis C treatment(β'=0.17),and HIV treatment(β'=-0.15).The participants expecting the clinics to keep the status quo of the MMT had a higher satisfaction score(β'=0.09) and those expecting treatment to other diseases or referral services(β'=-0.11) and adjustment of MMT charge by the clinics(β'=-0.13) had a lower satisfaction score.Conclusion The services provided by community MMT clinics could not meet the requirements of the participants and further efforts are needed urgently to improve the accessibility of MMT and the satisfaction of MMT users.