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- City-level drug policies in Portugal: the Covid-19 pandemic as an analyzer of harm reduction responsiveness in Porto and LisbonPublication . Pires, Cristiana Vale; Curado, Adriana; Fuertes, Ricardo; Carvalho, Maria Carmo; Valente, HelenaBackground: The COVID-19 pandemic health crisis and its potential implications for people who use drugs (PWUD) created permissive conditions toward social innovation and experimentation. Still, it also exposed gaps in harm reduction approaches. Harm reduction responsiveness was informed by the priorities defined at the local level, so it was not applied uniformly in different regions. This paper intends to contribute to the analysis of harm reduction responsiveness during the COVID-19 outbreak by comparing the adaptations and implementation of harm reduction and municipal services to support street-involved (SI) PWUD in two Portuguese cities– Porto and Lisbon. This study aims to shed light on the city-level implementation of drug policies in Portugal. Methods: This study is based on a comparative qualitative analysis based on the experiences of PWUD and Harm Reduction (HR) professionals regarding the implementation of harm reduction responses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Porto and Lisbon. The study is based on interviews with SI PWUD (n = 22, 12 in Porto and 10 in Lisbon) and online focus groups with harm reduction professionals (N = 12, 6 in Porto and 6 in Lisbon). Results: Harm reduction teams in Porto and Lisbon implemented contingency plans and proactive adaptations to respond to the pandemic-related emerging needs. However, the study revealed contrasting experiences in the city-level support to harm reduction and responsiveness to the impacts of COVID-19 among SI PWUD in Porto and Lisbon. There were relevant differences in the support they received from the City Council and the city-level responses implemented to support SI PWUD. While the approach in Porto was described as restrictive and zero-tolerance towards drug use, Lisbon´s strategy was harm reduction-focused and inclusive. The study participants revealed better results in Lisbon regarding the harm reduction responsiveness to the pandemic health crisis and the accessibility and adherence of SI PWUD to services. Conclusion: The pandemic constraints and adaptations must be contextualized in the ongoing city-level debates regarding drug policies and harm reduction in Portugal. Moreover, city-level drug policies and local support are crucial to map the opportunities and challenges of implementing the Portuguese Drug Decriminalization Model in different contexts.
- Reduced sense of danger following two years of COVID-19: fear inoculation or growing recklessness?Publication . Coelho, Carlos M.; Suttiwan, Panrapee; Jaroenkajornkij, Nisara; Araújo, Ana S.; Dias, Pedro; Carvalho, Célia B.; Zsido, Andras N.The COVID-19 pandemic led to sudden changes in many people's lives, due to the risky and unpredictable nature of the disease and the consequences of public policies aimed at controlling its spread. As the pandemic progressed, people became more aware of what to do, and restrictions were relaxed. Our aim was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals' psychological reactions and to examine differences due to long-term exposure between the start of the pandemic in early 2020 and the lifting of restrictions in mid-2022. We used an anonymous online survey at two different points in the COVID-19 pandemic - early 2020 and mid-2022 - and collected data from two independent samples of Portuguese individuals (194 in 2020 and 220 in 2022). Measures of the psychological impact of trauma, emergency response, anxiety and sensation seeking were collected. Participants reported significantly lower levels of negative effects of COVID-19, anxiety and sensation seeking in 2022 compared to 2020. The negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals appears to have gradually decreased between 2020 and 2022.
