Telehealth for people who inject drugs : An acceptable method of treatment but challenging to access

Résumé 0

Background: While telemedicine is seen as an emerging practice that will outlast the COVID-19 pandemic, it can reduce health services for those with limited internet and technological devices access or sufficient literacy. Objective(s): The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of using telehealth with people who inject drugs (PWID). Methods: A survey on availability and accessibility of different methods of communication was administered to a sample of PWID from an ongoing longitudinal cohort in Montréal, Canada. Results: Among the 96 respondents, phone calls were generally considered acceptable (89.6%) although availability was low (50%). Acceptability and availability of social media were 26% and 41.7%, respectively. Internet-based communication applications were considered acceptable to use for telehealth in 28.1% of participants, even if not frequently available (8.3%). Conclusions: Telehealth is an acceptable form of treatment for PWID, but may be challenging due to low availability of phone or internet access.