# Behavioral Activation for Substance Use Among People Who Inject Drugs

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2021 · $37,765

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
People who inject drugs (PWID) experience some of the greatest addiction-related harms and yet are under-
represented in substance use treatment. A number of individual and structural barriers have been shown to
prevent PWID from engaging in treatment. Many of these barriers can be reduced by low-threshold treatment
approaches, but there has been very little research evaluating low-threshold treatments for PWID, especially
treatments that target the mechanisms driving problematic drug use. The proposed study seeks to extend
ongoing research of a behavioral addiction intervention, Behavioral Activation (BA) for substance use, by
offering BA as a low-threshold intervention to non-treatment-seeking PWID. BA has demonstrated efficacy as a
supplement to traditional substance use treatment, but it may also be a particularly appropriate therapy for
non-treatment-seeking PWID because it targets environmental reward deficits, which are thought to be a driver
of substance use, and it aims to bolster motivation for recovery by increasing engagement in value based
substance-free activities. Additionally, it has high potential for cost-effective dissemination through support
workers without formal training in psychotherapy, making it a very practical approach for reaching underserved
substance users. The proposed study has three aims. Aim 1 will examine the feasibility and acceptability of BA
for non-treatment-seeking PWID recruited from a syringe exchange program (SEP). Aim 2 will focus on
developing and piloting the treatment manual through an iterative process. Aim 3 will examine the preliminary
efficacy of the treatment from baseline to a 1 month follow-up using a small randomized controlled trial. This
study would be the first to examine the use of this treatment in a sample of out-of-treatment substance users. If
effective, this treatment approach could be implemented in community-based settings where PWID already
access services, such as SEPs. This would fill an important gap in services for high-risk substance users,
especially those who are interested in receiving help but are not ready to enroll in traditional substance use
treatment.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10236281
- **Project number:** 5F31DA049457-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** Catherine E. Paquette
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $37,765
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10236281

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10236281, Behavioral Activation for Substance Use Among People Who Inject Drugs (5F31DA049457-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10236281. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*