Funded Projects

NOFO Title: Notice of Special Interest(NOSI): HEAL Initiative: Social Network Analyses to Reduce American Indian and Alaska Native Opioid Use Disorder and Related Risks for Suicide and Mental Health Disorders
NOFO Number: NOT-DA-20-033
Summary:

American Native (AN) communities experience high rates of trauma that compromise the mental health of parents and caregivers that in turn increases their children?s risk for suicide and substance use during adolescence and young adulthood. Without intervention, this intergenerational cycle may repeat. The goal of this study is to understand opioid use, suicide, and the social network characteristics of Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux parents and caregivers to determine how the social network of parents/adult caregivers are related to both risk for and protection from suicide and opioid use. This supplement will examine the effectiveness of a community health worker delivered, culturally tailored prevention intervention called Wa?Kan Ye?Zah on caregiver and child behavioral and mental health outcomes and assess the benefits of culturally enhancing the intervention for caregivers? well-being.

NOFO Title: Native American Research Centers for Health (NARCH) (S06)
NOFO Number: PAR-16-297

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Preventing Opioid Use Disorder in Older Adolescents and Young Adults (ages 16–30) (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trial Required
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-19-035
Summary:

Most opioid misuse begins during adolescence and young adulthood. Adolescence is the best time for prevention interventions in settings like school-based health centers (HCs), yet few programs focus on preventing initiation of opioid misuse. This study harnesses the power of video game interventions and incorporates components of effective substance use prevention programs to develop an evidence-informed intervention to prevent the initiation of opioid misuse in adolescents. In partnership with the national School-Based Health Alliance (SBHA), researchers will develop and test a new video game intervention, PlaySmart. It will build on our previous video game intervention that has demonstrated efficacy in improving attitudes and knowledge related to risk behaviors. The study will evaluate the game in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in 10 school-based HCs and examine strategies for implementing PlaySmart in school-based HCs nationally. This research has considerable potential for wide implementation, reach, and impact on high-risk adolescents through school-based HCs.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Preventing Opioid Misuse and Co-Occurring Conditions by Intervening on Social Determinants (R01 - Clinical Trials Optional)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-23-051
Summary:

Non-punishment, support-based preventive interventions in schools are needed to reduce misuse of opioids and other substances among youth. This project will test an intervention to improve school climate by introducing a learning approach that encourages behavior that is supportive and respectful in middle schools. ISLA reduces the use of exclusionary and discipline practices, such as suspensions and expulsions, that can be racially discriminating. The research aims to improve inclusive teaching practices, student engagement, student-teacher relationships, and school climate, while reducing student misuse of opioids and other substances.

NOFO Title: Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: PA-18-591
Summary:

Four out of five youth in the juvenile justice (JJ) system show evidence of being under the influence during their offenses, and more than half test positive for substances at the time of their arrest. Preventive intervention approaches that can be easily implemented within JJ settings may offer greater access to substance use care as well as increase families’ motivation to comply with court referrals to seek further services. It is especially important to evaluate interventions for court-involved, non-incarcerated (CINI) juveniles, as these youth account for two-thirds of those arrested; however, the bulk of extant research has been conducted with detained or incarcerated youth. In this application for supplemental funding, we capitalize on our parent grant (Brief Individual and Parent Interventions for Marijuana Misuse in Truant Adolescents) by proposing to develop an adjunctive, targeted preventive intervention for marijuana-using, JJ youth who are at elevated risk for illicit opioid use. The goal will be to develop a protocol for a single-session, parent-adolescent preventive intervention to decrease the likelihood of illicit opioid use in CINI adolescents. This formative work will culminate in a draft intervention manual.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Coordinating Center to Support NIDA Preventing Opioid Use Disorder in Older Adolescents and Young Adults (ages 16–30) Initiative (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-19-034
Summary:

The Coordinating Center (CC) will provide centralized logistical support and facilitate communication and coordination of activities across the cooperative. The CC will provide scientific leadership, which will include providing scientific expertise in the areas of implementation research and economic evaluation. The CC will establish an infrastructure for cross-site data collection, management, harmonization, and data sharing and provide expert methodological and statistical consultation.

NOFO Title: Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: PA-18-591
Summary:

Risk for opioid use disorder (OUD) often begins in adolescence and young adulthood. Engaging and retaining adolescents and young adults (collectively, “youth”) in early, effective treatment is critical for improving the life course trajectory of addiction. For adults with OUD, office-based opioid treatment (OBOT) with a collaborative care approach that includes behavioral therapy optimizes patient engagement and retention in care. Collaborative care OBOT is especially promising for youth, who can receive treatment from a trusted primary care provider in the same familiar setting they receive their usual medical care. To date, however, OBOT has not been formally adapted for treating youth. The central objective of this project is to develop and pilot an enhanced OBOT model for youth that is developmentally appropriate and family centered. The multidisciplinary nature of our team, which includes expertise in advanced biostatistical analysis, qualitative research, intervention development, developmental psychology, and implementation and improvement science, will maximize the chances of filling an important gap in the provision of youth specific evidence-based OUD interventions.

NOFO Title: Notice of Special Interest(NOSI): HEAL Initiative: Social Network Analyses to Reduce American Indian and Alaska Native Opioid Use Disorder and Related Risks for Suicide and Mental Health Disorders
NOFO Number: NOT-DA-20-033
Summary:

Data from 2015 show that American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) have the highest rates of diagnosis for opioid use disorders (OUD) and deaths from drug overdose; yet, there are no prevention programs addressing opioid misuse among urban AI/AN young adults that integrate culturally-appropriate strategies with evidence-based treatment. This project proposes to address that gap and help prevent OUD in Older Adolescents and Young Adults (ages 16-30) by developing and implementing a culturally-centered intervention to address opioid misuse among urban AI/AN emerging adults in California. The study will examine outcomes at 3-, 6-, and 12- months, and explore potential mechanisms of change for decreases in opioid and alcohol and other drug use outcomes through mediation analyses, including changes in social networks and cultural connectedness. Results from this study could significantly advance scientific knowledge and clinical practice for AI/AN emerging adults.

NOFO Title: Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: PA-18-591
Summary:

The Family School Partnership (FSP) and classroom-centered (CC) interventions targeted aggressive-coercive behavior and poor academic achievement as antecedents of the distal outcomes of antisocial behavior, substance abuse/dependence, psychiatric symptoms/disorders, high-risk sexual behavior and successful adaptation to the relevant developmental demands of the educational, work, romantic relationships and family (both family of procreation and origin/orientation) social fields/contexts. The participants of the FSP and CC original prevention trial were a population (n = 798) of urban, predominately African-American young adults, who began first grade in the fall of 1993 in nine elementary schools in predominantly low- to lower-middle-income Baltimore areas. The central purpose of the proposed study is to extend through ages 31-35 an examination of normal and pathogenic development and the impact of these two universal first-grade preventive interventions on the distal targets mentioned above. We will continue to study the role of phenotypic and genetic factors (and their interactions) as well as the impact of the interventions on the development and course of substance use/abuse/dependence, psychiatric symptoms/disorders, antisocial behavior/disorder and high-risk sexual behavior through young adulthood. The knowledge accrued over the course of the proposed assessments should serve to inform the nature, targets and timing of our future preventive intervention efforts.

NOFO Title: Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: PA-18-591

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Preventing Opioid Use Disorder in Older Adolescents and Young Adults (ages 16–30) (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trial Required
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-19-035
Summary:

The emergency department (ED) is an ideal venue to reach and intervene with adolescents and young adults (ages 16-30) at risk for opioid misuse, particularly as young adults may disconnect from primary care when transitioning out of pediatric medicine. This study will evaluate the efficacy of interventions of varying type/intensity to prevent/reduce opioid misuse or opioid use disorder (OUD). The research leverages technology that is appealing to youth to facilitate intervention delivery by health coaches. In this study, adolescents and young adults in the ED screening positive for opioid use or misuse will be randomly assigned to one of four intervention conditions with outcomes measured at 4, 8, and 12 months. Technology-driven, scalable interventions delivered via health coach allow for real-time tailoring to the rapidly changing opioid epidemic, with the potential for a sustainable impact on preventing escalation of opioid misuse among adolescents and young adults.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Preventing Opioid Use Disorder in Older Adolescents and Young Adults (ages 16–30) (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trial Required
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-19-035
Summary:

The national public health opioid crisis has disproportionately burdened rural white populations and American Indian populations. To address this crisis, the Cherokee Nation and Emory University public health scientists will carry out an opioid prevention trial to be conducted in at-risk rural communities in the Cherokee Nation (in northeast Oklahoma) with populations of white and American Indian adolescents and young adults. The study will expand and integrate two established intervention approaches, consisting of community organizing and universal school-based brief intervention and referral to further enhance their effects in preventing and reducing opioid misuse. These interventions, called CMCA and CONNECT, were originally designed to target adolescent alcohol use, but showed significant beneficial effects on use of other drugs, including prescription drug misuse. The expanded, integrated interventions will be tested in a community-randomized trial with the goal of new systems for sustained implementation within existing structures of the Cherokee Nation.