NCT02457949

The Impact of Alternative Social Assistance Disbursement on Drug-related Harm

The Impact of Alternative Social Assistance Disbursement on Drug-Related Harm: a Randomized Control Trial

• Status: Terminated
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 194 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of British Columbia · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 19 Years – 64 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This study evaluates whether altering the timing and frequency of social assistance disbursement reduces drug related-harms that increase on the days surrounding monthly synchronized government social assistance cheque issue.

Detailed description

Coordinated monthly income assistance payments, while seeking to alleviate poverty, can also have negative and unintended impacts, particularly among people who use illicit drugs (PWUD). Observational research has identified escalations in drug-related harm coinciding with monthly assistance payments, such as overdose, treatment interruption, hospital admissions and public disorder. This project varies the timing and frequency of income assistance disbursement, and evaluates whether varying income assistance disbursement reduces drug-related harm coinciding with coordinated income assistance. Conducted among 273 PWUD, participants will be allocated for 6 income assistance cycles to a control or one of two intervention arms. Participants in the control arm will receive payments according to the existing monthly government schedule. Participants in the intervention arm will receive their income assistance: (1) monthly on a day different from government cheque issue; or (2) semi-monthly on days different from government cheque issue. The intervention will be evaluated using qualitative and quantitative methods for its impact on drug use and related harms.

Conditions

• Drug Use

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Non-synchronized social assistance receipt	Social assistance disbursement outside government cheque issue week
OTHER	cheque divided into two equal disbursements	Social assistance disbursement divided into two equal payments

Timeline

• Start date: 2015-10-27
• Primary completion: 2019-01-02
• Completion: 2019-09-30
• First posted: 2015-05-29
• Last updated: 2020-11-17

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada