Intervention Development and Pilot Study to Prevent Untreated Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Opioid Use Disorders

NIH RePORTER · NIH · R34 · $123,675 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT Pacific Islanders are an understudied U.S. racial group that endures severe disparities in substance use, and bears exceptionally high risk for methamphetamine use disorders (MUD) and resulting social, economic, and health harms. Yet, we know little about the causes and drivers of MUDs in Pacific Islander communities; restricting our ability to design effective interventions to prevent and treat MUDs in at-risk Pacific Islanders. To inform the development of effective methamphetamine prevention and treatment efforts for this understudied population, the goals of this Diversity Supplement are to improve our knowledge of Pacific Islander MUDs by qualitatively exploring the major risk and protective factors, and barriers to treatment, in Pacific Islanders with MUDs, and using this novel data to design a conceptual model of culturally grounded treatment-seeking intervention components for Pacific Islanders with MUDs. Specifically, in Year 1 of the study, the Diversity Supplement candidate—a female, early career social work faculty of Pacific Islander heritage—will conduct four focus groups of Pacific Islanders with MUDs to qualitatively investigate their treatment seeking barriers and facilitators, and risk and protective factors. In Year 2, the candidate will use her mentor’s established modified Delphi approach to design a conceptual model of MUD treatment-seeking intervention components for NHPIs and conduct 4 focus groups to validate and shape these components using feedback from lay NHPIs with MUDs. Building off the parent grant (which is focused on addressing opioid use disorders in Pacific Islanders), the goal of this supplement is to support the candidate in (1) conducting the first mixed methods study of MUDs among Pacific Islanders, and (2) obtaining intensive training and mentorship to become a leading authority on substance use prevention and intervention research with Pacific Islander populations. Supported by a mentoring team of established NIH-funded researchers in Pacific Islander substance use and health disparities, the candidate will gain critical skills in substance use epidemiological, prevention, and intervention research approaches, community-based participatory research, and manuscript and grant-writing. Building upon her structured research and training experiences on this NIDA Diversity Supplement, the candidate will apply for a NIDA K01 grant at the end of the funding period.

Key facts

NIH application ID
10376586
Project number
3R34DA049989-02S1
Recipient
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE
Principal Investigator
Andrew Makoto Subica
Activity code
R34
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2021
Award amount
$123,675
Award type
3
Project period
2020-07-15 → 2023-05-31