Situation of methadone private service in Nam Dinh province in 2018

Abstract

A descriptive cross - sectional study collected qualitative and quantitative data to describe the status of methadone maintenance treatment service provision at a private methadone clinic in Nam Dinh province in 2018. The private health clinic has met the criteria of a methadone treatment facility in terms of facilities, equipment, personnel, and legality as required by the Government. Factors of “service availability” and “staff’s capacity and attitude” were highly evaluated by the patients (over 8/10 points), “non- methadone and referral services” was fairly assessed (below 5 points). Most of the patients received support (85.6% from family members, 49.7% from health workers). The main challenges faced by health workers at the clinic in providing methadone treatment services to patients were “psychological inhibition”, “psychological and safety threats”,
and “exposure to diverse attitudes”. The clinic should have a plan to provide, transfer nonmethadone services for patient convenience, and support health workers in delivering the services psychologically.