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

November 13, 2020 updated by: Lindsey Richardson, University of British Columbia

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

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.

Study Overview

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

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.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

194

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • British Columbia
      • Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6Z 2A9
        • British Columbia Centre on Substance Use

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

19 years to 64 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • be ≥19 years of age or older
  • reside in greater Vancouver, Canada
  • report regular use of illicit drugs other than cannabis
  • receive monthly provincial income assistance
  • are not currently administered (where cheque issue/money is externally managed)
  • be eligible and willing to be a client of the local credit union who will administer the intervention
  • report intensified drug use around government cheque issue days
  • provide written informed consent
  • be willing to comply with study procedures

Exclusion Criteria:

  • plan to relocate outside Vancouver
  • have plans to discontinue income assistance

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Treatment As Usual (TAU)
Receipt of social assistance on government cheque issue days for 6 income assistance cycles (approx 26 weeks).
Experimental: Staggered Arm
Receipt of social assistance once monthly on a randomly assigned day that does not fall during the week of government cheque issue (Non-synchronized social assistance receipt), for 6 income assistance cycles (approx 26 weeks).
Other: Non-synchronized social assistance receipt
Social assistance disbursement outside government cheque issue week
Other Names:
  • Staggered
Experimental: Staggered and Split Arm
Receipt of social assistance twice monthly on equally spaced randomly assigned days that do not fall during the week of government cheque issue (Non-synchronized social assistance receipt, cheque divided into two equal disbursements), for 6 income assistance cycles (approx 26 weeks).
Other: Non-synchronized social assistance receipt
Social assistance disbursement outside government cheque issue week
Other Names:
  • Staggered
Other: cheque divided into two equal disbursements
Social assistance disbursement divided into two equal payments
Other Names:
  • Split

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Illicit drug use on government cheque issue days
Time Frame: 26 weeks
Timeline Follow Back (TLFB) assessed increase of drug use defined as an increase in the frequency of drug use of at least 40% or an increase in the number of drugs used during the 3 days beginning with government cheque issue day, compared to non-cheque issue days.
26 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Illicit drug use on non-government cheque issue days
Time Frame: 26 weeks
Timeline Follow Back (TLFB) assessed increase of drug use defined as an increase in the frequency of drug use of at least 40% or an increase in the number of drugs used during the 3 days beginning with individual cheque issue day (among intervention participants), compared to non-cheque issue days.
26 weeks
Hospital admissions on government cheque issue days
Time Frame: 26 weeks
Emergency Department, Emergency Department Mental Health and substance use hospitalizations in the three days beginning with government cheque issue day compared to non-cheque issue days.
26 weeks
Overdose
Time Frame: 26 weeks
Self-reported non-fatal overdose and hospital record verified fatal overdose on the three days beginning with government cheque issue day compared to non-cheque issue days.
26 weeks
Police service utilization
Time Frame: 26 weeks
Self-reported and police record-verified interactions with police or use of police services on the three days beginning with government cheque issue day compared to non-cheque issue days.
26 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of British Columbia

Collaborators

BC Centre on Substance Use

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Lindsey Richardson, DPhil, University of British Columbia

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

October 27, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 2, 2019

Study Completion (Actual)

September 30, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 13, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 26, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

May 29, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 17, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 13, 2020

Last Verified

November 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • H14-02401

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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