A systematic meta-epidemiologic review on nonabstinence-inclusive interventions for substance use: inclusion of race/ethnicity and sex assigned at birth/gender

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Minoritized racial/ethnic and sex assigned at birth/gender groups experience disproportionate substance-related harm. Focusing on reducing substance-related harm without requiring abstinence is a promising approach. Objectives: The purpose of this meta-epidemiologic systematic review was to examine inclusion of racial/ethnic and sex assigned at birth/gender in published studies of nonabstinence-inclusive interventions for substance use. Methods: We systematically searched databases (PubMed and PsycINFO) on May 26, 2022 following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria. Articles were eligible for inclusion if they: 1) reported in English language, 2) had a primary goal of investigating a nonabstinence-inclusive intervention to address substance use, 3) used human subjects, and 4) only included adults aged 18 or older. Two coders screened initial articles and assessed eligibility criteria of full text articles. A third consensus rater reviewed all coding discrepancies. For the remaining full-length articles, an independent rater extracted information relevant to study goals Results: The search strategy yielded 5,759 records. 235 included articles remained. Only 73 articles (31.1%) fully reported on both racial/ethnic and sex assigned at birth/gender, and only seven articles (3.0%) reported subgroup analyses examining treatment efficacy across minoritized groups. Nine articles (3.8%) mentioned inclusion and diversity regarding both racial/ethnic and sex assigned at birth/gender in their discussion and four articles (1.7%) broadly mentioned a lack of diversity in their limitations Conclusion: Findings highlight that little is known about nonabstinence-inclusive interventions to address substance use for individuals from minoritized racial/ethnic and sex assigned at birth/gender groups.