U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Recovery Research Networks
Overview
The Research Need
Recovery from opioid and other substance use disorders is an ongoing process of finding a path to a healthy lifestyle. While effective treatments can help reduce drug use, they may not be able to address the loss of jobs or homes, damaged relationships with families and friends, or the effects of justice system involvement that often accompany the disorder. Recovery support services include a variety of non-clinical services to support well-being, but their effectiveness has not been adequately studied. Clinical continuing care services to address retention on treatment using medications for opioid use disorder also require further research.
Research Spotlights
About the Program
This program advances research on the effectiveness of recovery support services in three ways. First, it creates multi-stakeholder networks (researchers, payors, providers, people in recovery) to build infrastructure to set research agendas; build research tools, methods, and relationships; and train researchers needed to generate strong evidence about what works. The Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative®, supports a variety of recovery support networks, including those incorporating peer recovery support, recovery community centers, active recovery communities, continuing care, and integrated networks of care.
Second, the program supports research to prepare for clinical trials testing specific services, including peer interventions to help individuals continue or resume medications for opioid use disorder.
Third, it supports the Consortium on Addiction Recovery Science (CoARS), which coordinates research activities, develops cross-project activities, and sponsors the National Conference on Addiction Recovery Science.
Open Funding Opportunities
There are no Open Funding Opportunities at this time.Examples
Examples of funded projects supported by this program include:
- Engaging with stakeholders, including people in recovery, payors, providers, and researchers to determine research priorities
- Developing and pilot-testing valid and reliable instruments to use in recovery support services research
- Developing and sharing uniform or pooled data sets that can be used for recovery support services research
- Preparing for clinical trials to test the effectiveness of specific interventions
- Evaluating recovery support services developed for specific populations, such as young adults and individuals with co-occurring mental disorders
Upcoming and Past Events
- Clemson University – South Carolina
- East Tennessee State University – Tennessee
- Maryland Treatment Centers, Inc. – Maryland
- Massachusetts General Hospital – Massachusetts
- Oregon Social Learning Center, Inc. – Oregon
- Partnership to End Addiction – New York
- Public Health Institute – California
- University of Connecticut School of Medicine – Connecticut
- University of Maryland, Baltimore – Maryland
- University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio – Texas
Participating NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices
Contact
View Other Research Programs in This Focus Area
- Behavioral Research to Improve Medication-Based Treatment (BRIM)
- Enhancing the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network to Address Opioids
- Harm Reduction Approaches to Reduce Overdose Death
- HEALing Communities Study
- Improving Delivery of Healthcare Services for Polysubstance Use
- Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN)
- The Continuum of Care in Hospitalized Patients with Opioid Use Disorder and Infectious Complications of Drug Use (CHOICE)