# Building a Lasting Foundation to Advance Actionable Research on Recovery Support Services for High Risk Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder: The Initiative for Justice and Emerging Adult Populations

> **NIH NIH R24** · OREGON SOCIAL LEARNING CENTER, INC. · 2021 · $565,114

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
 Two groups that are under-researched but at the highest risk for problems stemming from opioid use
disorder are (1) public system-involved emerging adults (EAs; ages 16-25) and (2) individuals who are justice-
involved (including EAs). Compared to all other age groups, EAs report the highest rates of drug use, including
use of opiates, and public system-involved EAs are more likely to have negative outcomes. For adults of all ages,
opioid use results in a 13-fold increased probability of justice system contact. And, among the prison re-entry
population, the leading cause of death is overdose, mostly from opioids. Further, polysubstance use is nearly
universal for EAs and justice-involved adults (of any age) using opioids. Peer recovery support services and
recovery residences are proliferating nationally and may have tremendous benefit for these two high-risk groups,
but research on them is limited and lacks scientific rigor. The ultimate goal of this Initiative is rapid advancement
of the recovery support services field through developing actionable research such that continued network
funding will no longer be necessary to sustain growth. To accomplish this, it is essential to identify and equip
investigators willing to dedicate or redirect their research efforts to this topic. However, a fundamental challenge
for evaluating recovery support services (and any other community-based program) is the inherent
incompatibility of rigorous research methods and the context of real-world services efforts. This requires
adaptation or development of innovative and comprehensive methods that thoughtfully combine adaptable
designs, advanced measurement, and sophisticated statistical analyses. Investigators also must be competent
and well-trained to collaborate with community stakeholders so that rigorous research can be conducted in real-
world settings. Optimally, though, people impacted by recovery support services and the research conducted on
them must help drive the research agenda; rather than priorities being researcher-initiated, persons in recovery
from the target populations and stakeholders in that community (recovery support service providers and payors)
must be effectively engaged. Thus, this Initiative is a partnership between advanced researchers, persons in
recovery from the target high-risk populations, providers, and payors. The Initiative will advance research on the
efficacy/effectiveness of peer recovery supports and recovery residences for public-system involved emerging
adults and justice-involved adults with opioid use disorders and medication assisted treatment experience
through ambitious but achievable goals: (1) identify priority areas of research via engaging individuals in recovery
and providers/payors, (2) grow the field of skilled early career investigators focused on this research, (3) provide
seed funds and guidance to produce preliminary studies for NIH funding, and (4) conduct dissemination and
o...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10187541
- **Project number:** 5R24DA051950-02
- **Recipient organization:** OREGON SOCIAL LEARNING CENTER, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael R McCart
- **Activity code:** R24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $565,114
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-06-15 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10187541

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10187541, Building a Lasting Foundation to Advance Actionable Research on Recovery Support Services for High Risk Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder: The Initiative for Justice and Emerging Adult Populations (5R24DA051950-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10187541. Licensed CC0.

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