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Issues: Drug consumptions rooms (DCR) and supervised injecting facilities (SIF) are expanding internationally. Previous reviews have not systematically addressed evaluation methodologies.Approach: Results from systematic searches of scientific databases in English until June 2017 were coded for paper type, country and year of publication. For evaluation papers, study outcome, methodology/study design and main indicators of DCR/SIF 'exposure' were recorded.Key Findings: Two hundred and nineteen eligible peer-reviewed papers were published since 1999: the majority from Canada (n = 117 papers), Europe (n = 36) and Australia (n = 32). Fifty-six papers reported evaluation outcomes. Ecological study designs (n = 10) were used to assess the impact on overdose, public nuisance and crime; modelling techniques (n = 6) estimated impact on blood-borne diseases, overdose deaths and costs. Papers using individual-level data included four prospective cohorts (n = 28), cross-sectional surveys (n = 7) and service records (n = 5). Individual-level data were used to assess safer injecting practice, uptake into health and social services and all the other above outcomes except for impact on crime and costs. Four different indicators of DCR/SIF attendance were used to measure service 'exposure'.Implications: Research around DCRs/SIFs has used ecological, modelling, cross-sectional and cohort study designs. Further research could involve systematic inclusion of a control group of people who are eligible but do not access SIFs, validation of self-reported proportion of injections at SIFs or a stepped-wedge or a cluster trial comparing localities.Conclusions: Methodologies appropriate for DCR/SIF evaluation have been established and can be readily replicated from the existing literature. Research on operational aspects, implementation and transferability is also warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining the proportion of avoidable disease burden attributable to substance use is important for both policy development and intervention implementation. Current epidemiological theory has in principle provided a method to estimate avoidable burden of disease and the available statistical tools can provide first rough estimates. The method described in this paper, and its statistical procedures, are exemplified to estimate avoidable burden of tobacco-related disease in Canada. However, further effort is needed to find solutions in the methodological details, namely exposure measurement, risk factor multidimensionality, estimation of changes in exposure distribution over time, and estimation of risk relationships from multiple exposures changing over time with multiple endpoints (causal webs). The impetus to begin refining methods to obtain better starting points for estimating avoidable burden of disease is obvious and should be carried through in order to see real changes through evidence-based policy and intervention. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the disjointed manner in which addiction treatment services have evolved in Ontario, Canada, the Addiction Research Foundation has promoted the development of coordinated, community-based treatment systems. This paper describes the plan of action adopted by the Addiction Research Foundation for the establisment of the treatment systems. An approach to the evaluation of the Foundation's work in this area is also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]