Lindsey Richardson
Research Area
Education
D.Phil., Sociology, University of Oxford, 2012
M.Phil., Sociology, University of Oxford, 2008
B.A., English (Honours) and International Relations, University of British Columbia, 2001
About
Lindsey Richardson’s research links observational, intervention, and research participation studies in efforts to identify and address the causes and health consequences of socio-economic (in)security, with a specific focus on people who use illicit drugs. Her research program is motivated by fundamental inequities in health that have social and institutional roots, and is, by design, change-focused, community-engaged, and policy oriented.
Other Affiliations:
Research Scientist, British Columbia Centre on Substance Use.
Associate Member, Division of Social Medicine, UBC Faculty of Medicine.
Affiliate Investigator, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute
Teaching
Research
Research topics
Sociology of health and illness; substance use; urban health; sociology of work and economic life; health disparities; research participation; research methods, especially longitudinal, experimental and mixed-methods research
Research Interests
Dr. Richardson’s current research focuses on three interrelated areas:
1. Observational studies on the dynamics and health consequences of poverty and socio-economic marginalization. This research has shown that despite a persistent relationship between unemployment and poor health, people who use illicit drugs face significant social-structural barriers to employment. As a result, they are commonly relegated to prohibited income generation (e.g., informal recycling, drug dealing) that can carry further risk of harm. It also results in reliance on income supports, which, while protecting against the effects of severe poverty are also linked to cyclical elevations in drug-related harm coinciding with synchronized once-monthly support payments. This work draws on data from longitudinal cohorts housed at the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use. It also includes several systematic reviews on the relationship between socioeconomic marginalization and overdose. This research has appeared in Addiction, AIDS, Social Science & Medicine, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Sociology of Health & Illness, and Social Indicators Research, among others,
2. Applied studies that examine modifiable aspects of upstream determinants of health. This second area translates findings from observational research into intervention studies. It includes the Cheque Day Study, a complex field experiment that evaluated whether varying the timing and frequency of income assistance payments mitigates escalations in drug- related harm that coincide with payments. Results from this study are published in The Lancet Public Health, The Sociological Quarterly, The Journal of Social Services Research, and BMC Public Health, among others. Analyses are ongoing. A second study focuses on community-based adaptive employment models and their effects on broadly defined well-being. The Assessing Economic Transitions (ASSET) Study cohort concluded five years of longitudinal quarterly data collection in 2024.
3. Critical studies of health research participation among marginalized populations, focusing on randomized controlled trials (RCTs). While RCTs are considered the gold standard in medicine, identifying broader influences on RCT participation, trial effectiveness and generalizability in substance use RCTs is particularly salient given issues of poverty, criminalization and stigma for people who use drugs. This research investigates dynamics of RCT recruitment, retention, and protocol adherence. It has been published in Qualitative Health Research, Sociology of Health and Illness, and the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, among others.
Publications
Selected Publications
*indicates supervised trainee co-author
*Mitra, S., Richardson, L. Cui, Z., Gilbert, M., Milloy, M-J., Hayashi, Kerr, T. (2025) Patterns of socioeconomic marginalization and non-fatal overdose among people who use drugs: A gender-stratified repeated measures latent class analysis. Social Science & Medicine, 366: 117661.
*Mitra, S., Cui, Z., Kerr, T., Gilbert, M., Fleury, M., Hayashi, K., Milloy, M-J, Richardson, L. (2024) Patterns of socioeconomic marginalization among people who use drugs: A gender- stratified repeated measures latent class analysis. Journal of Urban Health, 101(2): 402-425.
Richardson, L., Geddes, C., Palis, H., Buxton, J., Slaunwhite, A. (2024) An ecological study of the correlation between COVID-19 support payments and overdose events in British Columbia, Canada. International Journal of Drug Policy, 126: 104362.
*Robinson, K., *Laing, A., Choi, J., Richardson, L. (2024) Effect of modified income assistance payment schedules on substance use services and treatment access: Evidence from an experimental study. International Journal of Drug Policy, 124: 104293.
*Laing, A., Richardson L. (2024) Fronts and friends: Social contingencies in the management of drug debt. The Sociological Quarterly, 65(2): 182-203. | *Awarded the 2024 American Sociological Association Section on Drugs and Society Distinguished Scholarly Paper Award
*Jaffe, K., Richardson, L., (2023) “I thought it was for guys that did needles”: Medication perceptions, stigma, and lay expertise among medical research participants. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 154: 209134.
*Mitra, S., Choi, J., *Van Draanen, J., Kerr, T., Gilbert, M., Hayashi, K., Milloy, M-J, Johnson, C., Richardson, L. (2023) Socioeconomic marginalization and risk of overdose in a community-recruited cohort of people who use drugs: A longitudinal analysis. International Journal of Drug Policy, 119, 104117.
*Van Draanen, J., *Jamula, R., Karamouzian, M., *Mitra, S., Richardson, L. (2023) Pathways connecting socioeconomic marginalization and overdose: A qualitative narrative synthesis. International Journal of Drug Policy, 113: 103971.
Richardson, L., *Jaffe, K., Socias, M.E., Le Foll, F., Lim, R., Jutras-Aswad, D. (2022) Research participation in substance use disorder trials: Design and methods of a multi-site nested qualitative study. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21: 1-10.
Richardson, L., *Minh, A., McCormack, D., *Liang, A., Barbic, S., Hayashi, K., Milloy, M-J S., Huyser, K., Leahy, K., Li, J., on behalf of the ASSET Study team. (2022) Cohort Profile: The Assessing Economic Transitions Study (ASSET) —A Community-Based Mixed-Methods Study of Economic Engagement among Inner-City Residents. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(16): 10456.
*Van Draanen, J., *Tsang, C., *Mitra, S., Phuong, V., Murakami, A., Karamouzian, M., Richardson, L. (2022) Mental disorder and opioid overdose: A systematic review. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 57:647–671.
Beaulac, M., Richardson, L., Tobias, S., Lysyshyn, M., Grant, C., Ti, L. (2022) Changes in the unregulated opioid drug supply during income assistance payment weeks in Vancouver, Canada: An exploratory analysis. International Journal of Drug Policy, 205: 103707.
Richardson, L., Dong, H., Kerr, T., Milloy, M-J., Hayashi, K. (2021) Drug-related harm coinciding with income assistance payments: results from a community-based cohort of people who use drugs.” Addiction, 116(3): 536-545.
Richardson, L., *Laing, A., Choi, J., Nosova, K., Milloy, M-J., Marshall, B., Singer, J., Wood, E., Kerr, T. (2021) Effect of alternative income assistance schedules on drug use and drug-related harm: a randomised controlled trial. The Lancet Public Health, 6: e324-34. Plain Language Summary | Lancet Public Health Podcast
Mendell, J., Richardson, L. (2021) Integrated knowledge translation to strengthen public policy research: a case study from experimental research on income assistance receipt among people who use drugs. BMC Public Health, 21: 153 Plain Language Summary
*Jaffe, K., Nosova, E., DeBeck, K., Hayashi, K., Milloy, M., Richardson, L. (2021) Trust in research physicians as a key dimension of randomized controlled trial participation in clinical addictions research. Substance Abuse Journal, 42(4): 927-934.
*Jaffe, K. , Nosova, E., Milloy, M-J., Hayashi, K., Richardson, L. (2021) Income generation and the patterning of substance use: a gender-based analysis. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 226: 108862.
*Jaffe, K., Korthuis, P.T., Richardson, L. (2021) “This could be my last chance”: Therapeutic optimism in an addictions randomized controlled trial. Sociology of Health and Illness, 43: 1286-1300.
*Jaffe, K., Korthuis, P.T., Richardson, L. (2021) Experimental (re)structuring: Shifting place, time, and social ties among medical research participants. Qualitative Health Research. 31(8): 1504-1517.
*Van Draanen, J., Hayashi, K., Milloy, M-J., Nosova, E., Shulha, H., Grant, C., Richardson, L. (2021) Material security as a measure of poverty: a validation study with people who use drugs. Social Indicators Research, 157: 501-521.
*Mohd Salleh, N.A., Voon, P., Karamouzian, M., Milloy, M-J., Richardson, L. (2021) Methadone maintenance therapy service components linked to improvements in HIV care cascade outcomes: A systematic review of trials and observational studies. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 281(1): 108342.
*Van Draanen, J., Karamouzian, M., *Mitra, S., *Tsang, C., Richardson, L. (2020) Socio-economic Marginalization and Opioid Overdose: A Review of the Evidence. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 214: 18127.
*Mohd Salleh, N.A., Nosova, E., Milloy, M-J., Richardson, L.. (2020) Material security and adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) among HIV-positive people who use illicit drugs. AIDS. 34(7):1037–1045.
Richardson, L., *Mammel, M., Milloy, M-J, Hayashi, K. (2019) Employment cessation, long term labour market engagement and HIV infection risk among people who inject drugs in an urban Canadian setting. AIDS and Behavior. 23(12): 3267-3276.
*Jaffe, K., Dong, H., Godefroy, A., Boutang, D., Hayashi, K., Milloy, M-J, Kerr, T., Richardson, L.. (2018) Informal recycling, income generation and risk: health and social harms among people who use drugs. International Journal of Drug Policy. 60, 40-46.
Boyd, J., Richardson, L., Anderson, S., Kerr, T., Small, W., McNeil, R. (2018). Transitions in illegal income generation among people who use drugs: A qualitative study on recycling and vulnerability to violence. International Journal of Drug Policy. 59, 36-43.
Conyers, L., Richardson, L., Datti, P., Koch, L., Misrock, M. (2017)
A critical review of health, social, and prevention outcomes associated with employment for people living with HIV. AIDS Education and Prevention, 29(5), 475-490.
Krebs, E., Wang, L., Olding, M., DeBeck, K., Hayashi, K., Milloy, M-J., Wood, E., Nosyk, B., Richardson, L. (2016) Increased drug use and the timing of social assistance receipt among people who use illicit drugs. Social Science & Medicine, 171, 94-102.
Richardson, L., Laing, A., Milloy, M-J., Maynard, R., Nosyk, B., Marshall, B., Grafstein, E., Daly, P., Wood, E., Montaner, J., Kerr, T. (2016) Protocol of The Impact of Alternative Social Assistance Disbursement on Drug-Related Harm (TASA) Study: A randomized controlled trial to evaluate changes to payment timing and frequency among people who use illicit drugs. BMC Public Health, 16(668), 1-16.
Otterstatter, M.C., Amlani, A., Guan, H., Richardson, L., Buxton, J.A. (2016) Illicit drug overdose deaths resulting from income assistance payments: Analysis of the ‘check effect’ using daily mortality data. International Journal of Drug Policy, 33, 83–87.
Richardson, L., Kerr, T., Dobrer, S., Puskas, C., Guillemi, S., Montaner, J., Wood, E., Milloy, M-J. (2015) “Socio-economic marginalization and plasma HIV-1 RNA non-detectability among individuals who use illicit drugs in a Canadian setting.” AIDS, 29(18), 2487-95.
Richardson, L., *Long, C., DeBeck, K., Milloy, M-J., Wood, E., Kerr, T. (2015) “Socioeconomic marginalisation in the structural production of vulnerability to violence among people who use illicit drugs.” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 69(7): 686-692.
Nachega, J., Uthman, O., Peltzer, K., Richardson, L., Mills, E., Amekudzi, K., Ouédraogo, A. (2015) “The association of antiretroviral therapy adherence and employment status: systematic review and meta-analysis.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 93(1): 29-41.
Zlotorzynska, M., Milloy, M.J., Richardson, L., Montaner, J, Wood, E., Kerr, T. (2014) Timing of social assistance payment and overdose patterns at a Canadian supervised injection facility. International Journal of Drug Policy, 25 (4): 736-739.
Richardson, L., Milloy, M-J., Kerr, T., Parashar, S., Montaner, J.S.G. & Wood, E. (2014) Employment predicts decreased mortality among HIV-seropositive illicit drug users in a setting of universal HIV care. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 68: 93-96.
Richardson, L., Wood, E. and Kerr, T. (2013) The impact of social, structural and physical environmental factors on transitions into employment among people who inject drugs. Social Science & Medicine, 76: 126-133.
Richardson, L., Wood, E., Montaner, J. and Kerr, T. (2012) Addiction treatment-related employment barriers: The impact of methadone maintenance. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 43(3): 276-284.
Richardson, L., Sherman, S., and Kerr, T. (2012) Employment among people who use drugs: A new arena for research and intervention? International Journal of Drug Policy, 23: 3-5.
Richardson, L., Wood, E., Li, K., Kerr, T. (2010) Factors associated with employment among a cohort of injection drug users. Drug and Alcohol Review, 29(3): 293–300.
Richardson, L., Wood, E., Zhang, R., Montaner, J., Tyndall, M., Kerr, T. (2008) Employment among users of a medically supervised safer injection facility. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 34(5):519-25.