# PARCA (a digital tool) to improve Justice and Health

> **NIH NIH R42** · Q2I, LLC · 2024 · $791,479

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Nearly 4.4 million individuals are on community supervision in the United States, with the majority (about
80%) being supervised under probation.1 Justice involved persons (JIPs) have a 474% increased lifetime
experience with heroin, a 303% increased use of OxyContin in the last 12 months, and a 256% increased use in
pain medication in the last 12 months, compared to the general population.3 One important step in addressing
substance use and addiction is getting individuals engaged in the treatment process, as initiation and retention
rates are very low for substance use treatment among this population. Q2i successfully developed the
Probation/Parole And Reentry Coach Application (PARCA) technology, which includes a Justice Team (JT)
Dashboard connected to a mobile app designed for JIPs. The platform enables JIPs to set and manage their
personal goals while assisting them in addressing the social determinants of health (SDOH) in order to
facilitate and supplement the substance use treatment process. It provides a step-by-step guide and identifies
local services and resources that the JIPs can connect with to accomplish these goals. At the same time, it gives
the JT a dashboard that enables greater insight on how a JIP is managing their plan. This increased connection
and communication between the JT and the JIP is designed to improve the community supervision process. In
this Phase 1/Phase 2 Fast Track STTR application, Q2i’s PARCA platform will be refined and implemented in
Dallas and Hidalgo Counties to test its efficacy. The primary goal of Phase I is to enhance the PARCA
platform for JIP. The study team will accomplish this by recruiting three sets of 2 PPOs/Case Managers willing
to use PARCA with five of their clients who have used any opioids in the last 12 months (total JIPs = 30) for 2-
weeks. The team will conduct interviews with PPOs and their clients that will inform our user-centered design
iterations. Initial interviews will describe barriers and challenges to successful community supervision
including accessing MOUD treatment and how PARCA can be improved to address these challenges. Follow-
up interviews will describe feasibility (use of the PARCA platform features) and acceptability (engagement
with PARCA platform through user engagement logs) of using PARCA platform to locate and access MOUD
treatment. The overall goal of Phase II is to test the relative efficacy of supervision as usual (SAU) and
PARCA in helping JIPs under community supervision engage in substance use treatment process and reduce
subsequent involvement in criminal behavior. Using a stepped wedge effectiveness design, we will evaluate the
PARCA platform across probation/parole officers (PPOs) (N=60), probationers/parolees (N=600). PPOs will
be randomized in three clusters of 20 people to utilize PARCA. Lastly, we will assess the acceptability and
feasibility of PARCA platform by supervision officers and justice-involved persons (JIPs) and...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11057040
- **Project number:** 4R42DA056255-02
- **Recipient organization:** Q2I, LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Faye S Taxman
- **Activity code:** R42 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $791,479
- **Award type:** 4N
- **Project period:** 2023-05-01 → 2026-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11057040

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11057040, PARCA (a digital tool) to improve Justice and Health (4R42DA056255-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11057040. Licensed CC0.

---

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