AUTHOR=Ekhtiari Hamed , Khojasteh Zonoozi Arash , Rafei Parnian , Abolghasemi Fateme Sadat , Pemstein Dan , Abdelgawad Tarek , Achab Sophia , Ghafri Hamad Al , Al’Absi Mustafa , Bisch Michaël , Conti Aldo Alberto , Ambekar Atul , Arunogiri Shalini , Bhad Roshan , Bilici Rabia , Brady Kathleen , Bunt Gregory , Busse Anja , Butner Jenna L. , Danesh Ahmad , El-Khoury Joseph , Omari Fatima El , Jokūbonis Darius , Jong Cor de , Dom Geert , Ebrahimi Mohsen , Fathi Jouzdani Ali , Ferri Marica , Galea-Singer Susanna , Parker Dario Gigena , Higuchi Susumu , Kathiresan Preethy , Khelifa Emira , Kouimtsidis Christos , Krupitsky Evgeny M. , Long Jiang , Maremmani Icro , McGovern Garrett , Mohaddes Ardabili Hossein , Rahimi-Movaghar Afarin , Rataemane Solomon Tshimong , Sangchooli Arshiya , Sibeko Goodman , Vella Anna Maria , Vista Salvador Benjamin D. , Zare-Bidoky Mehran , Zhao Min , Javed Afzal , Potenza Marc N. , Baldacchino Alexander Mario TITLE=World addiction medicine reports: formation of the International Society of Addiction Medicine Global Expert Network (ISAM-GEN) and its global surveys JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry VOLUME=15 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1230318 DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1230318 ISSN=1664-0640 ABSTRACT=

Addiction medicine is a dynamic field that encompasses clinical practice and research in the context of societal, economic, and cultural factors at the local, national, regional, and global levels. This field has evolved profoundly during the past decades in terms of scopes and activities with the contribution of addiction medicine scientists and professionals globally. The dynamic nature of drug addiction at the global level has resulted in a crucial need for developing an international collaborative network of addiction societies, treatment programs and experts to monitor emerging national, regional, and global concerns. This protocol paper presents methodological details of running longitudinal surveys at national, regional, and global levels through the Global Expert Network of the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM-GEN). The initial formation of the network with a recruitment phase and a round of snowball sampling provided 354 experts from 78 countries across the globe. In addition, 43 national/regional addiction societies/associations are also included in the database. The surveys will be developed by global experts in addiction medicine on treatment services, service coverage, co-occurring disorders, treatment standards and barriers, emerging addictions and/or dynamic changes in treatment needs worldwide. Survey participants in categories of (1) addiction societies/associations, (2) addiction treatment programs, (3) addiction experts/clinicians and (4) related stakeholders will respond to these global longitudinal surveys. The results will be analyzed and cross-examined with available data and peer-reviewed for publication.