“The system always undermined what I was trying to do as an individual”: identifying opportunities to improve the delivery of opioid use services for youth from the perspective of service providers in four communities across British Columbia, Canada

Table 1 Characteristics of service provider participants in the four community-based workshops* (n = 41)

Workshop characteristics^a	N (%)/median (Q1, Q3)
Total number of participants in each community	41 (100)
Victoria	13 (32)
Vancouver	12 (29)
Prince george	12 (29)
Kelowna	4 (10)
Number of small discussion groups in each community^a	10 (100)
Victoria	3 (30)
Vancouver	3 (30)
Prince George	3 (30)
Kelowna	1 (10)
Participant socio-demographic and occupation characteristics (N = 39)^b
Gender^c
Woman	32 (82)
Man	7 (18)
Ethnicity^d
White/caucasian	31 (80)
First Nations, inuit, métis	6 (15)
Other, including East Asian, South Asian, Hispanic	4 (10)
Median age (Q1, Q3)	41 (34, 48)
Occupation^e
Counselor or social worker	17 (46)
Registered nurse or nurse practitioner	6 (16)
Physician	3 (8)
Peer or family peer support and navigation	6 (16)
Youth outreach educator	1 (3)
Program manager or program administration	4 (11)
Median years in occupation (Q1, Q3)	7.5 (3, 15)
Median years working with youth	10 (4.5, 17)
Primary practice setting^d
Hospital-based setting (inpatient, outpatient, emergency department)	10 (26)
Outreach setting	13 (33)
General community health centre	14 (36)
Integrated youth services centre	18 (46)
Private practice/office-based setting	3 (8)
School-based setting	5 (13)
Substance use services and treatments provided^d
Screening or early intervention	24 (61)
Brief intervention	21 (53)
Individual psychotherapeutic interventions^f	29 (74)
Group or family based psychotherapeutic interventions^g	22 (56)
Vocational or occupational services	8 (20)
Peer support services	4 (10)
Harm reduction services	29 (74)
Pharmacological treatment	19 (48)

SD standard deviation, Q1 25th percentile, Q3 75th percentile
^* Workshops occurred in four communities across five health regions in British Columbia: Kelowna (Interior Health), Prince George (Northern Health), Victoria (Island Health), and metro-Vancouver (Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health)
^aParticipants self-selected into smaller discussion groups, ranging from 3–5 participants each
^bThe socio-demographic survey was voluntary and the response rate was 95% (39/41 completed; 2 missing, 1 in Vancouver and 1 in Prince George)
^cResponse options also included the following, but were not selected by any participants: Non-binary, Two-spirit, Trans female, Trans male, Not sure/questioning, Prefer not to answer, Other
^dParticipants could choose more than one response option, and therefore do not sum up to 100%
^en = 37, 2 missing responses
^fCollapsed category includes cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical behavioural therapy, contingency management, motivational interviewing, motivational enhancement therapy, and/or mindfulness-based relapse prevention
^gCollapsed category includes family therapy, mutual aid groups, and/or psychoeducational groups

ISSN: 1940-0640