COVID-19 Variant Supplement - Gender and addiction intervention in the context of a pandemic with people in socially precarious situations

This knowledge synthesis aims to guide the improvement of addiction practices in the context of a pandemic, taking into account a sex- and gender-based analysis of the various social and health needs of people in socially precarious situations. People in socially precarious situations who are confronted with problematic substance use face increased risks related to COVID-19 compared to the general population. Often struggling with chronic health conditions, these people are particularly at risk of facing serious consequences if they become infected while health instructions tend to be more difficult to apply to their living context. The experience of a pandemic can contribute to triggering or aggravating a psychosocial crisis in these people already facing concomitant mental disorders. The WHO emphasizes that the social consequences of COVID-19 hit women even harder (economic precariousness, single parenthood, violence, barriers to access to services, etc.). A scoping review will examine best practice guides and evaluative studies to identify gender-sensitive addiction interventions that can be recommended for people in socially precarious situations in the context of COVID-19. Also, approximately 30 individual interviews of 45 to 60 minutes will be conducted with key stakeholders in Quebec with professional expertise or experiential knowledge on the subject of study (decision-makers, practitioners and drug users). The knowledge synthesis will integrate the results of these two components in order to guide the co-production of recommendations with the team of this project which integrates researchers and knowledge users from the addiction and public health sectors.