Funded Projects

NOFO Title: Clinical Trials or Observational Studies of Behavioral Interventions for Prevention of Opioid Use Disorder or Adjunct to Medication Assisted Treatment-SAMHSA Opioid STR Grants (R21/R33)
NOFO Number: RFA-AT-18-002
Summary:

Office-based opioid treatment (OBOT) with buprenorphine/naloxone prevents overdose deaths. Nonpharmacologic approaches to anxiety, stress, and emotion dysregulation are needed during primary care OBOT, which is the primary access point for opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment in most U.S. counties. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) safely and reliably reduce the impact of stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain, which could increase OBOT retention while reducing rates of relapse and overdose deaths. Current 8-week standard MBIs do not appear to have strong, sustained impact on substance use outcomes, suggesting longer or enhanced MBIs are needed in the OUD treatment setting. This project proposes to adapt, refine, and compare the effectiveness of the 6-month Mindful Recovery OUD Care Continuum delivered within group-based opioid treatment (GBOT) versus standard GBOT alone.

NOFO Number:
Summary:

Emergency department (ED)-initiated buprenorphine/naloxone (BUP) with referral for ongoing BUP is superior to referral alone in engaging patients with untreated opioid use disorder (OUD) in treatment at 30 days and is cost-effective. However, logistical barriers exist in translating research into practice. New BUP formulations such as the extended-release injectable BUP (CAM2038, XR-BUP) hold promise in addressing many of the barriers more effectively than sublingual buprenorphine (SL-BUP) by treating the patients’ symptoms for up to seven days. This study will recruit, train and provide resources to 30 ED sites throughout the U.S. using implementation facilitation strategies to address stigma and provide ED-initiated BUP for patients presenting with OUD who are not receiving medications for OUD. Once implementation is adequately achieved, the sites will conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to compare the effectiveness of SL-BUP versus XR-BUP on ED patients’ engagement in formal addiction treatment seven days after their ED visit. In addition, in an ancillary component of the study, the use of XR-BUP will be assessed in ED patients with Clinical Opioid Withdrawal Scale (COWS) scores of

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

Given the magnitude of the opioid death epidemic, we need multiple approaches to increase use of medication treatment for opioid use disorder (MOUD) for people from diverse geographical locations. Pharmacists as dispensers of and gatekeepers to opioid medications, including those used for OUD treatment, are natural partners of health care providers. Community pharmacists are widely available even in rural areas. This 2-year study will use a mixed-method design that includes qualitative and quantitative approaches to study pharmacists’ knowledge of, attitudes about, and intention to provide patient care and services for screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment for substance use disorders and MOUD. Study aims are to conduct stakeholder interviews, develop a survey instrument to assess such barriers and facilitators, pilot test the survey instrument, and conduct the survey among licensed pharmacists.

NOFO Title: The National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (UG1)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-15-008
Summary:

Very little research has been conducted on better understanding of phenotypic characterization of individuals with OUD (beyond DSM-5 diagnoses) and how these features predict illness severity, treatment retention or outcomes. The primary objective of the deep phenotyping study is to provide a comprehensive phenotypic characterization (e.g., domains of negative affect, reward salience, cognitive control, mental health) of a heterogeneous sample of individuals (n = 1,000) who currently meet one or more DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for OUD and are in treatment for OUD. In a subset of this sample (n = 100), the investigators conduct digital phenotyping to examine the utility of ecological momentary assessment (EMA), digital sensing and social media to predict retention, medication adherence and opioid use outcomes in patients receiving buprenorphine for OUD. It is anticipated that this foundational study will inform the feasibility and utility of such assessments that can be successfully embedded into imminent and future CTN and other OUD clinical trials.

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

This project seeks to develop and test a “train-the-trainer” curriculum and training experience that will facilitate the spread and use of the 6BBs by adapting the 6BBs framework and toolkit for health systems and other organizations, training personnel to facilitate its implementation and monitoring results of this implementation.

NOFO Title: The National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (UG1 Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-19-008
Summary:

The Great Lakes Node (GLN) of the NIDA-supported Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network (CTN) will serve as a vital Midwestern hub for the CTN and expand on the success of the CTN approach. The GLN aims include (1) identify substance misuse research and intervention protocols focused on systems-based practice; (2) establish a digital and computation health core for studies in mHealth, eHealth, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and telehealth interventions; (3) bring substantial expertise with youth/adolescent health and seniors/aging to examine prevention strategies to mitigate these life-course pathways; (4) support work on opioid misuse that focuses on health disparities, including socioeconomic, geographic, sexual orientation, and gender identity; (5) leverage experience in professional education and practice-based learning to test the impact of professional education on opioid and substance use treatment; and (6) expand the pipeline of early investigators interested in substance misuse research.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) Clinical Research Centers (UG1 Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-19-025
Summary:

Many opioid harm reduction services are designed and implemented to serve urban populations in traditional centers of opioid use and leave rural patients underserved. The proposed project seeks to demonstrate improved MAT participation, naloxone distribution, and syringe support services (SSPs) among justice-involved persons with opioid use disorders, and thus improve health and criminal justice outcomes across diverse urban and rural settings in Illinois. Reducing Opioid Mortality in Illinois (ROMI) is a multi-site trial that will be carried out using a hub-and-spoke model, with centralized long-standing social services infrastructure at the Community Outreach Intervention Projects (COIP) hosted at the University of Illinois at Chicago. COIP provides case management/transition of care services to justice-involved opioid users, extending resources and technical assistance to less-populated rural areas hardest hit by the opioid epidemic.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) Clinical Research Centers (UG1 Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-19-025
Summary:

Women are disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis due to increased pain sensitivity, physician prescribing practices, and self-medication, as well as a faster trajectory from opioid exposure to the development of opioid use disorder (OUD). The University of Kentucky proposes to establish the Women’s Clinical Research Center as part of the NIDA Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (W-JCOIN), with the overall goal of increasing initiation and maintenance of medications for OUD among high-risk justice-involved women in the transition from jail to the community to reduce opioid relapse and overdose. The KY W-JCOIN has the potential for significant impact on the OUD treatment field by contributing empirical evidence on the effectiveness and implementation of innovative technologies to increase initiation and maintenance of life-saving medications during a critical, high-risk time of community re-entry among vulnerable, justice-involved women in both urban and rural communities.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) Clinical Research Centers (UG1 Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-19-025
Summary:

Correctional settings have the potential to serve as key players in linking individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) to treatment and health services upon release. Many individuals with OUD are being treated with medications, but these efforts will be ineffective if they fail to connect people to OUD treatment upon release. The Transitions Clinic Network (TCN) program provides enhanced primary care and OUD treatment for people recently released from incarceration. In TCN, formerly incarcerated community health workers are embedded within primary care teams and address social determinants of OUD, provide social support, help patients build trust in the health system, and advocate in interactions with the criminal justice system. This study will assess the effectiveness of the TCN: Post Incarceration Addiction Treatment, Healthcare, and Social Support (TCN PATHS) intervention versus referral to standard primary care on opioid treatment cascade outcomes and whether housing, food access, criminal justice contact, and social support mediate this association.

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

Social big data analysis of publicly available user data on social media platforms is a promising approach for attaining organic observations of behavior that can monitor and predict real-world public health problems, such as HIV incidence. In preliminary research, our team identified and collected tweets suggesting HIV risk behaviors (e.g., drug use, high-risk sexual behaviors), modeled them alongside CDC statistics on HIV diagnoses, and found a significant positive relationship between HIV-related tweets and county-level HIV cases. We propose to create a single automated platform that collects social media data, identifies and labels tweets that suggest HIV-related behaviors, and predicts regional HIV incidence. We will interview staff and participants at local and regional HIV organizations to understand ethical issues associated with mining people’s data. The software developed from this application will be shared with HIV researchers and health care workers to combat the spread of HIV.