# Identifying and Disseminating Substance, Treatment, and Strategy (STS) Recommendations to AIDS Service Organizations

> **NIH NIH R01** · RESEARCH TRIANGLE INSTITUTE · 2020 · $720,685

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Substance use disorders among individuals living with HIV/AIDS are highly prevalent and problematic, leading
to decreased retention in care, medication adherence, and viral suppression and significantly increasing the
risk of new HIV infections. Wide recognition of the prevalence and problematic nature of comorbid HIV/AIDS
and substance use disorders has led to urgent calls to improve substance use disorder service integration
(SUDSI) within HIV/AIDS settings. However, despite more than a decade of calls to improve SUDSI within
AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs), this remains an urgent need. As such, a key impetus for the proposed
application is the need to improve SUDSI within ASOs (urgent need #1). Another key impetus for this
application is the broader and arguably more urgent need to improve generalizable knowledge regarding how
best to advance empirically based innovations along the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation,
Sustainment (EPIS) continuum within real-world settings (urgent need #2). To address these two urgent needs,
our research team will achieve two specific aims. Specific Aim 1 will empirically identify stakeholder-driven
Substance-Treatment-Strategy (STS) recommendations for improving SUDSI within ASOs across the nation.
More specifically, three sequential Real-Time Delphi's will be conducted to empirically identify multiple
substance (e.g., alcohol), treatment (e.g., motivational interviewing), strategy (e.g., workshop training +
feedback + coaching) combinations for substances found to negatively impact the HIV care continuum. Specific
Aim 1 is significant because it will result in STS recommendations that will guide hundreds of ASOs across the
United States towards improving SUDSI within their organization (urgent need #1). Specific Aim 2 will
experimentally test the incremental effectiveness of external facilitation (EF; A process of interactive problem
solving and support that occurs in a context of a recognized need for improvement and a supportive
interpersonal relationship) for improving the advancement of empirically based innovations (i.e., the STS
recommendations) along the EPIS continuum beyond what can be achieved via usual dissemination (i.e., mail,
email, website postings). Aim 2 is significant because systematic reviews have concluded that such usual
dissemination strategies are important yet insufficient ways to disseminate empirically based innovations
beyond the exploration phase of the EPIS continuum. Additionally, although evidence supports external
facilitation during the EPIS continuum's middle two phases (preparation, implementation), no research has
experimentally tested the extent to which external facilitation can be effective during the critical exploration
phase, especially not in terms of its incremental effectiveness beyond what is achieved via usual dissemination.
Thus, Aim 2 has additional significance given it will advance generalizable knowledge regarding how best t...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9974503
- **Project number:** 5R01DA044051-03
- **Recipient organization:** RESEARCH TRIANGLE INSTITUTE
- **Principal Investigator:** Bryan R Garner
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $720,685
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-15 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9974503

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9974503, Identifying and Disseminating Substance, Treatment, and Strategy (STS) Recommendations to AIDS Service Organizations (5R01DA044051-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9974503. Licensed CC0.

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