Clinical trials

We are studying whether training an identified support person and providing patient navigation (i.e. a peer recovery specialist assisting you with finding the right support) after delivery can increase "recovery capital"-the resources that help people with opioid use disorder (OUD) stay in treatment and recover. This study will build upon the research team's prior work in conducting research among pregnant and parenting women with OUD. This project will be directed by the research team at Friends Research Institute in close collaboration with their research and clinical partners at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. A two-phase study is proposed with an initial 1-year developmental phase (R61) that will develop and pilot test STORC to include support person training. A second 4-year phase (R33) will test STORC in a parallel, two-arm, randomized controlled trial design at two study sites.

This study is an open label randomized controlled trial of extended-release buprenorphine (BRIXADI, XR-B) vs. sublingual buprenorphine (SL-B) in a large metropolitan jail. An open-label design will randomly assign 240 adults with moderate-to-severe OUDs who are soon-to-be-released from jail to either XR-B (n=120) or SL-B (n=120) treatment in jail followed by 6-months of post-release buprenorphine treatment, a 7-month safety visit, and a final long-term follow-up at 12-months.

The study aims to adapt an existing Cultural Structural Humility (CSH) training into a video format for peer recovery coaches (PRCs) and refine an AI-driven texting tool to reinforce the training. After refining these tools using user-centered design, a pilot test will be conducted to assess their impact on the uptake of opioid treatment and social services. The study will also evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the intervention to inform future large-scale trials.

Patient Navigation (PN) interventions following hospitalization can improve outcomes for people with opioid use disorder treatment. Delivering PN interventions on a wide scale requires many resources and coordination across institutions. This will use an evidence-based process to find solutions to these significant barriers by engaging community, hospital, and patient partners. This study is being conducted to learn more about how to implement NavSTAR, a patient navigation intervention for people with opioid use disorder, across a health system. The research team showed in a previous study with 400 participants that NavSTAR significantly increased entry into opioid use disorder treatment, reduced readmissions to the hospital, and was highly cost- effective compared to treatment as usual. This study will first pilot NavSTAR with 32 patient participants across 4 hospitals in the City of Philadelphia. Then, a large trial with 720 patient participants will be conducted to see if people who need the intervention are reached, and a sustainable plan will be created to continue the intervention after the grant award period.