# Developing and testing an intervention to enhance recovery capital amid opioid use disorder pharmacotherapy: A pilot randomized trial of assertive linkage to recovery community centers

> **NIH NIH K01** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2024 · $185,141

## Abstract

(K.220) 7. Project Summary/Abstract
Opioid use disorder (OUD) is associated with disproportionate deficits in the psychosocial determinants of health,
with individuals exhibiting recovery capital (i.e. recovery resources) that is one standard deviation below that of
other substance use disorders (SUDs) in the first year of recovery. OUD medications (MOUDs) are first-line
treatments (Txs) that facilitate recovery by addressing the biophysiological disturbances caused by chronic
opioid misuse. Yet, high rates of MOUD discontinuation and associated risks are ongoing concerns and, even
when patients (Ps) are retained in Tx, psychosocial deficits often persist, increasing biobehavioral stress and
hindering Tx/recovery. Thus, without a foundation of resources for recovery support/maintenance, current and
former MOUD Ps are at ongoing risk for psychosocial impairment, which hinders recovery. The provision of
recovery support services (RSS) offers one way to address extra-Tx needs and enhance recovery capital to
ensure a safety net of resources and healthy coping skills to support MOUD Ps during and after Tx. Recovery
Community Centers (RCCs) are a free, newly emerging, and rapidly growing tier of RSS that serve as ‘one-stop-
shops’ for recovery capital, offering an array of services catered to the SUD community. RCCs seem to be
especially well suited for MOUD Ps, as they operate under the maxim “many pathways [to recovery], all should
be celebrated” (including MOUD), and the majority of RCC attendees have OUD and hold positive attitudes
toward MOUD. Though early evidence suggests that RCCs can aid SUD recovery, its potential benefit to MOUD
Ps has yet to be directly studied. Also, few MOUD Ps know of or use RCCs, and clinical linkage to them is
uncommon. Thus, this 5-year project seek to advance our understanding of the clinical and public health utility
of RCCs and help bridge the gap between clinical Tx and community-based RSS. As a first step in this work, we
will develop and test a new intervention for peer-facilitated assertive linkage of MOUD Ps to RCCs (RCCL),
relative to a matched control condition (CC). This study aims to: (1) develop, manualize, and refine RCCL/CC
protocols via stakeholder feedback; (2) determine feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy (RCC
attendance, service use, recovery capital) of RCCL vs. CC, via a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT); (3) Gain
in-depth insight to RCCL via qualitative interviews. This study will be the first to test RCCL for MOUD Ps,
providing a foundation for larger-scale RCTs, with the potential to ultimately change clinical practice paradigms
to address Ps’ extra-Tx needs and inform our ability to expand RCCL provision nationally. The aims support
advanced training in: psychosocial determinants of health; RSS; intervention development/testing (via RCT);
qualitative methods; ongoing OUD training, with a new focus on intervention research. Training will be fulfilled
with expert guidance ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10796930
- **Project number:** 5K01DA055768-03
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Lauren A Hoffman
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $185,141
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-03-15 → 2027-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10796930

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10796930, Developing and testing an intervention to enhance recovery capital amid opioid use disorder pharmacotherapy: A pilot randomized trial of assertive linkage to recovery community centers (5K01DA055768-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10796930. Licensed CC0.

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