Date: July 31, 2009 (Friday)
Time: 11:30 – 12:30
Venue: Mrs Chen Yang Foo Oi Telemedicine Centre, 2/F, Room A2-08, William M.W. Mong Block, Faculty of Medicine Building, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

Abstract:
U.S. physicians are required to include a psychosocial treatment component when prescribing buprenorphine for opioid-dependence. Some may provide this component in a medical management format while others may offer referrals to local psychosocial treatment programs. In an ongoing trial funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, opioid-dependent individuals presenting for treatment are provided with a platform of buprenorphine pharmacotherapy and, after a 2-week induction/stabilization period, are randomly assigned to 1 of 4 psychosocial treatment conditions (cognitive behavioral treatment [CBT]; contingency management [CM]; combined CBT and CM [CBT+CM]; and medical management only [MM]). Participants are scheduled to attend clinic twice weekly during this phase and are terminated from participation if they miss 3 consecutive weeks of clinic visits. The current study reports on preliminary findings from data collected from the first 43 participants during the psychosocial treatment phase (weeks 3-18) to determine whether there are differences in retention by psychosocial condition. Retention is measured dichotomously as completion of this treatment phase, and numerically as the last clinic visit. Results indicate no differences in baseline characteristics between study conditions. The percentages of participants in each condition completing the 18-week psychosocial treatment phase are: CBT = 81.8%; CM = 72.7%; CBT+CM = 77.8%; and MM = 58.3%. Mean last visit number is 16.45 (4.2) for the CBT group, 16.36 (3.9) for the CM group, 16.56 (3.1) for the CBT+CM group, and 14.92 (4.2) for the MM group. Because the CM condition offers incentives for combined attendance and urine results, analyses examined whether this condition would experience a fewer number of missed clinic visits. Results show that the CM group did not attend a greater number of clinic visits despite incentives. These findings and their ramifications for treatment programs will be discussed.

Bio-sketch:
Dr. David Chim serves as the Medical Director of the Outpatient Clinical Research Center at the UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs. He is dually board-certified in Family Medicine and Addiction Medicine, and has expertise in translational clinical research. After completing residency at Kaiser Permanente/USC School of Medicine in 2006, he started dual NIH-funded fellowships in Addiction Medicine and Translational Investigation at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Chim is an Associate Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at Western University of Health Sciences, and is one of the few Postdoctoral Scholars to be chosen as a Faculty Tutor by the UCLA Dean of Medicine. After joining UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs in 2007, he conducted research focusing on developing pharmacotherapy for opioid and psychostimulant dependence. His interests include advancing biopsychosocial treatment of addiction, developing public health policies for addiction awareness and treatment, preventing opioid dependency in developing pharmacotherapy for pain, and integrating addiction medicine training in primary care residencies.

For registration and enquiries, please call Ms Amy Pang at 3906-2002 or email mhrn@hkusua.hku.hk