Mare, Clara (2024) A Qualitative Investigation into Opioid Treatment Program Access Barriers in Rural Areas. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Opioid use disorder is a chronic condition associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Improved access to opioid agonist treatment is essential for reducing the risk of relapse and promoting recovery. However, due to various factors such as Queensland’s geographical vastness and susceptibility to natural disasters and extreme weather events, treatment uptake amongst its rural population is low. This qualitative study aimed to gain better understanding of the treatment access barriers faced by rural residents in Queensland; and determine whether they have unique treatment access needs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and qualitative feedback from an online survey was used to explore the experiences of consumers and staff. Consistent with prior studies, findings highlight that consumers and staff identified limited treatment services, stigma, inflexible treatment practices, distance to dosing point and lack of community and family support as barriers to treatment. Courteous and non-judgmental conduct of clinicians was associated with increased consumer willingness to travel further for treatment. Contrary to prior studies, direct treatment costs were not found to impact treatment utilisation due to treatment subsidies that came into effect in Australia in July 2023. Lack of psychosocial support has important implications for treatment delivery as it impacts motivation to engage in treatment. Lack of investment in holistic treatment services that provide psychosocial support may continue to undermine rural residents’ efforts to access and remain in treatment. Treatment access for rural populations could also be enhanced by reducing treatment associated stigma through staff and community education and awareness programs.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
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| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Current – Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Wellbeing (1 Jan 2022 -) |
| Supervisors: | Wang, Grace |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Psychology) |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Jan 2026 23:52 |
| Last Modified: | 27 Jan 2026 23:52 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Medication assisted treatment, opioid use disorder, rural areas, treatment access |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1701 Psychology > 170106 Health, Clinical and Counselling Psychology |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5203 Clinical and health psychology > 520304 Health psychology |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/53101 |
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