Could COVID expand the future of addiction research? Long-term implications in the pandemic era

Amir Englund; Stephen Sharman; Basak Tas; John Strang

doi:10.1111/add.15790

Could COVID expand the future of addiction research? Long-term implications in the pandemic era

Amir Englund, Stephen Sharman, Basak Tas^*, John Strang

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

178 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background/Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted face-to-face research. This has propelled ideas and plans for more remote styles of research and provided new perspectives on conducting research. This paper aimed to identify challenges specific to conducting remote forms of experimental addiction research, although some of these challenges apply to all types of addiction research. Argument: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to important lessons for future addiction research. Although remote research has been conducted for decades, little experimental research has been performed remotely. To do so require a new perspective on what research questions we can ask and could also enable preferential capture of those who may be more reluctant to engage in research based in clinical settings. There may, however, be crucial factors that will compromise this process. We illustrate our argument with three real-world, ongoing case studies centred on gambling behaviour, opioid overdose, and cannabinoid psychopharmacology. We highlight the obstacles to overcome to enable more remote methods of study. Conclusions: The future of experimental research and, more generally, addiction research, will be shaped by the pandemic and may result in advantages, such as reaching different populations and conducting addiction research in more naturalistic settings.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2135-2140
Number of pages	6
Journal	Addiction
Volume	117
Issue number	8
Early online date	25 Jan 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/add.15790
Publication status	Published - Aug 2022

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Could COVID expand the_ENGLUND_Publishedonline25January2022_GOLD VoR (CC BY-NC)Final published version, 467 KBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

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title = "Could COVID expand the future of addiction research? Long-term implications in the pandemic era",

abstract = "Background/Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted face-to-face research. This has propelled ideas and plans for more remote styles of research and provided new perspectives on conducting research. This paper aimed to identify challenges specific to conducting remote forms of experimental addiction research, although some of these challenges apply to all types of addiction research. Argument: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to important lessons for future addiction research. Although remote research has been conducted for decades, little experimental research has been performed remotely. To do so require a new perspective on what research questions we can ask and could also enable preferential capture of those who may be more reluctant to engage in research based in clinical settings. There may, however, be crucial factors that will compromise this process. We illustrate our argument with three real-world, ongoing case studies centred on gambling behaviour, opioid overdose, and cannabinoid psychopharmacology. We highlight the obstacles to overcome to enable more remote methods of study. Conclusions: The future of experimental research and, more generally, addiction research, will be shaped by the pandemic and may result in advantages, such as reaching different populations and conducting addiction research in more naturalistic settings.",

author = "Amir Englund and Stephen Sharman and Basak Tas and John Strang",

note = "Funding Information: Authors are supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King{\textquoteright}s College London. Funding Information: S.S. is supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, the Society for the Study of Addiction and the King's Prize Fellowship Scheme, Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund. Funding Information: A.E. has been employed by KCL to work on GW Pharma supported studies. He has received speakers fee and travel grant from GW Pharma and speakers fee from Lundbeck Pharma. A.E. is supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at South London and the Maudsley National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust and King's College London. Funding Information: J.S. is a researcher and clinician who has worked with a range of governmental and non‐governmental organisations, and with pharmaceutical companies to seek to identify new or improved treatments from whom his employer (King's College London) has received honoraria, travel costs and/or consultancy payments: this includes, last 3 years, MundiPharma, Camurus and Accord and trial medication supply from Camurus. J.S.'s research is supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London. J.S. is an NIHR Senior Investigator. For a fuller account, see at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ioppn/depts/addictions/people/hod.aspx . Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors. Addiction published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for the Study of Addiction.",

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AU - Tas, Basak

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N2 - Background/Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted face-to-face research. This has propelled ideas and plans for more remote styles of research and provided new perspectives on conducting research. This paper aimed to identify challenges specific to conducting remote forms of experimental addiction research, although some of these challenges apply to all types of addiction research. Argument: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to important lessons for future addiction research. Although remote research has been conducted for decades, little experimental research has been performed remotely. To do so require a new perspective on what research questions we can ask and could also enable preferential capture of those who may be more reluctant to engage in research based in clinical settings. There may, however, be crucial factors that will compromise this process. We illustrate our argument with three real-world, ongoing case studies centred on gambling behaviour, opioid overdose, and cannabinoid psychopharmacology. We highlight the obstacles to overcome to enable more remote methods of study. Conclusions: The future of experimental research and, more generally, addiction research, will be shaped by the pandemic and may result in advantages, such as reaching different populations and conducting addiction research in more naturalistic settings.

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Could COVID expand the future of addiction research? Long-term implications in the pandemic era

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