Multi-professional practices in Occitanie's health centers for addiction care

Introduction : The causes found for GPs' lack of involvement in addiction care are a feeling of lack of training, negative representations and a lack of interdisciplinary. The primary objective was to assess the current state of multi-professional addiction care in the ambulatory health centers ("maisons de santé pluriprofessionnelles" and "centres de santé" of Occitanie), and the secondary objective was to evaluate the interest of these structures for the development of "microstructures médicales addiction" (MSMAs).

Method: This descriptive cross-sectional epidemiological study surveyed health centers in 2023, using a self-administered questionnaire consisting of 33 questions, and divided into 3 parts (characteristics of the structures / multi-professional addiction care / interest in the MSMA concept).

Results: 136 structures (including 20 MSMAs) responded, giving a response rate of 43.4%. 65.2% of these structures used in-house multi-professionality for addiction care. The main professions involved were nurses and psychologists (56%). Nearly 40% of the structures took part in the tobacco-free month, and 19.8% organized other addiction-related activities. The promotion of addiction care via health projects/actions and the creation of addiction protocols were associated with the age of the structures and with being an MSMA. 74% of respondents thought it would be interesting to hold specific multi-professionnal concertation meetings for addictions. 58.1% wanted training in addictology, and 56% were interested in setting up an MSMA in their facility.

Discussion - conclusion : Despite a selection bias, our study included a substantial number of structures. The vast majority worked on addiction care as a team, but few addiction-related projects/actions were in place. Given the interest in the MSMA concept, and the link between the development of projects and the maturity of the structures, we can expect to see an evolution in addiction care and new multi-professional practices in the years to come in primary care.