Annual Conference 2024

Crowne Plaza, Hawthorn Square, Newcastle

14-15 November

Programme

08:30–09:00

Registration

09:00–09:30

Stephenson Suite

Welcome from the President and introduction to the conference

Owen Bowden-Jones, Sarah Welch

09:30–10:45

Stephenson Suite

Spotlight session: How can drug policy reduce the harms of cannabis use?

Speakers: Katrina Ffrench, Elle Wadsworth, Eva Hoch

Chair: Tom Freeman

10:45–11:00: Refreshments

11:00–12:30

Stephenson Suite

Emerging approaches for improving the study and understanding of gambling-related harm

  • Developing an instrument to estimate risk of funding-related bias in gambling research – Sasha Stark
  • Minimum standards framework for involvement of people with lived experience in gambling research – Steve Sharman
  • Gambling and suicide: A psychological autopsy and qualitative inquiry – Amanda Roberts

Chair: Arun Dhandayudham

Northumbrian Room

Digital interventions and technologies

  • Mobile telephone contingency management to encourage adherence to opioid agonist treatment: a feasibility study – Carol-Ann Getty
  • “StopWatch”: Developing and evaluating the feasibility of a smartwatch-based smoking relapse intervention – Chris Stone
  • Overdose detection among high-risk opioid users via a wearable chest sensor in a Supervised Injecting Facility: an observational study (OD-SEEN) – Basak Tas
  • Narrative Animation-Making Workshop: A program for Stimulating Addiction Recovery – Thomas Kimball
  • RESCU: Assessing a Pilot Intervention Program Using Respiratory Monitoring to Reduce Drug-Related Deaths – Kristina Hnizdilova

Chair: John Marsden

Rocket Room

  • The Society for the Study of Addiction: Past, present, and future – Rob Calder
  • 2022 SSA Academic Fellow – Sophie Orton
  • 2024 winner of the Fred Yates Prize for Early Career Researchers: ‘Nicotine and tobacco products, perceptions & policies’ – Katie East
  • 2024 winner of the Impact Prize: ‘Smoking amongst people experiencing homelessness: an overlooked addiction’ – Sharon Cox

Chair: Owen Bowden-Jones

12:30–13:30: Lunch

13:30–15:00

Stephenson Suite

Addressing public priorities for alcohol research through the evaluation of novel interventions

  • The top ten research priorities for alcohol use disorder and alcohol-related liver disease? New results from a multi-stakeholder research priority-setting partnership – Katy Jones
  • Reflections on developing and running ‘KLIFAD’: An open-label pragmatic feasibility randomised controlled trial to reduce alcohol use in people at risk of alcohol-related liver disease – Mohsan Subhani
  • Effectiveness and cost‐effectiveness of online recorded recovery narratives in improving quality of life for people with non‐psychotic mental health problems: A pragmatic randomized controlled trial – Stefan Rennick-Egglestone

Chair: Nathan Critchlow

Stephenson Suite

Substance-related deaths

  • European Naloxone Outcome Research Study (NalPORS): Availability of take-home naloxone at witnessed overdose events – Teodora Dascal
  • Qualitative assessment of the implementation of an urban emergency department’s peer recovery service in response to the opioid crisis using the RE-AIM evaluation framework – Jack Sulivan
  • Characterising trends in alcohol-specific deaths in England between 2001–2022 – Melissa Oldham
  • Safer supply: A response to opioid drug poisoning in Canada – Abigale Sprakes
  • Overdose prevention centres as spaces of safety, trust, and inclusion: A causal pathway based on a realist review – Alex Stevens

Chair: Matt Hickman

Stephenson Suite

Patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE): involving and engaging people with living and lived experience in addiction research

Speakers: Jo Neale, Paul Lennon, Mel Getty, Abigail Severn

15:00–16:30

Poster session

Refreshments available

16:30–17:50

Stephenson Suite

Society Lecture: Tobacco harm reduction – controversies and potential resolutions

Keynote speaker: Ann McNeill

Chair: Owen Bowden-Jones

17:50–18:00

Stephenson Suite

Vote of thanks

Sarah Welch

18:00–19:30

Mezzanine

Welcome reception and ‘140 years of the SSA’ exhibition

19:30: Evening buffet meal

08:30–09:00

Registration

09:00–09:15

Stephenson Suite

Welcome from the President and introduction to day two

Owen Bowden-Jones, Sarah Welch

09:15–10:15

Stephenson Suite

How do people with alcohol and drug problems experience stigma, and what can we as researchers do about it?

Speakers: Tessa Parkes, Hannah Carver

Chair: Inge Kersbergen

10:15–10:30: Refreshments

10:30–12:00

Stephenson Suite

New and emerging treatment systems

  • Recovery on Campus in the UK – Ed Day
  • The need for gambling treatment and support in England: prevalence estimates informed by an E-Delphi consensus study with stakeholders – Matt Field
  • A consensus process to develop a Model of Care for patients with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) in the general medical Setting – Julia Sinclair
  • ‘As for dignity and respect…. me bollix’: A human rights-based exploration of service user narratives in Irish methadone maintenance treatment – Peter Kelly

Chair: Kyla Thomas

Northumbrian Room

Health inequalities and substance use

  • Evaluating the effectiveness of an e-cigarette offer versus usual care for smoking cessation among people experiencing homelessness: A cluster randomised controlled trial in Great Britain – Lynne Dawkins
  • Pharmacological treatments for alcohol dependence: Evidence on uptake, inequalities and comparative effectiveness – Francesco Manca
  • Patterns and perceptions of vaping among adults living in social housing: a representative survey in Great Britain, 2023 – Sarah Jackson
  • Smoking and quitting behaviours by socioeconomic position in England: a repeated cross-sectional population-level study, 2014 to 2023 – Annika Theodoulou
  • Using stakeholder engagement to develop targeted smoking cessation interventions for social housing residents in Greater Manchester – Nicola Lindson

Chair: Leonie Brose

12:00–13:00: Lunch

13:00–14:30

Stephenson Suite

Reducing illicit drug use in young people

  • Reducing demand for illicit substances in young people through coproduction, skills training and early intervention – Chris Retzler
  • An examination of a multi-component approach to universal drug education – Fiona Spargo-Mabbs
  • Developing and operationalising a multi-component drug and alcohol outreach service for young people aged 16-25 – Zoe Welch

Chair: Matt Field

Northumbrian Room

Substance use and co-occurring mental health problems

  • Providing an e-cigarette starter kit for smoking cessation as adjunct to usual care to smokers with a mental health condition: Findings from the ESCAPE feasibility study – Dimitra Kale
  • Are current UK guidelines for the treatment of co-occurring substance use and mental health problems being implemented in practice? – Zoe Swithenbank
  • Implementing trauma-focused integrated treatment for PTSD and substance use disorder – Shalini Arunogiri
  • The role of cannabis withdrawal in psychosis – Ed Chesney
  • Co-producing and evaluating MeWeSports (Mental Wellbeing and Sports)- a sports-mediated substance use prevention program for young people in India – Urvita Bhatia

Chair: Tom Freeman

Rocket Room

Mechanisms of action

  • Do engagement and behavioural mechanisms underpin the effectiveness of the Drink Less app? – Claire Garnett
  • Realist Review of Managed Alcohol Programmes for people experiencing alcohol dependence and homelessness: what works, for whom, and in what circumstances? – Emma King
  • Understanding the mechanisms through which an e-cigarette intervention produced changes in smoking behaviour among people accessing homelessness services: findings from a mixed methods process evaluation – Lauren McMillan
  • Comparing the Relative Impact of Childhood Vulnerabilities on Treatment Outcomes for Alcohol Use – Mica Komarnyckyj
  • A comparison of substance use profiles and substance use service utilisation between people released from Scottish prisons and the general population: Preliminary findings from RELEASE – Richard Kjellgren
  • Chair: Katie East

14:30–16:45: Refreshments

14:30–15:45

Stephenson Suite

The NIHR Policy Research Unit in Addictions – a new opportunity to inform government decisions about addictive products, behaviours and systems

Speakers: John Holmes, Heather Wardle, Martyn Willmore

Chair: Julia Sinclair

15:45–16:00

Stephenson Suite

Poster awards