Welcome to the CoARS website! This website provides you with updates and information on the growing science on recovery support services.
The Consortium on Addiction Recovery Science (CoARS) is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and coordinated by Dr. Aaron Hogue (PI). It is an example of NIDA’s investment in increasing our understanding of recovery support services. In 2018, NIDA announced a new funding opportunity: RFA-DA-20-014; Research Networks for the Study of Recovery Support Services for Persons Treated with Medications for Opioid Use Disorder.
Five research teams were funded, whose collective mission was to advance the science on recovery support services through research networking, training and mentoring students and early career scientists, and building community partnerships. In 2022, NIDA increased its investment in recovery support science by announcing two new RFAs: (1) fund additional research teams to build research and training infrastructure and (2) fund preliminary studies testing the effectiveness of recovery support services. NIDA also provided three years of funding to CoARS to consolidate the partnership among the eight R24 and three R34-funded research teams. This website is dedicated to sharing information on our progress, and to invite and enable participation.
• Project: The JEAP Initiative
• Topic: Recovery support services for justice-involved and emerging adult populations
• PIs: Ashli Sheidow and Michael McCart
• Project: Studies to Advance Recovery Support (STARS)
• Topic: Recovery support services in rural settings
• PIs: Robert Pack and Kimberly Horn
• Project: Innovations in Recovery Through Infrastructure Support
• Topic: Integrated networks of care
• PIs: Jay Unick and Michelle Tuten
• Project:Advancing the Science on Recovery Community Centers
• Topic: Recovery Community Centers
• PIs: Bettina Hoeppner
• Project: Collaborative Hub for Emerging Adult Recovery Research (CHEARR)
• Topic: Recovery support services, particularly clinical continuing care, for emerging adults who take or who have taken medications for opioid use disorders
• PIs: Kristyn Zajac
• CHEARR is currently recruiting a post-doctoral fellow! Please see here for more information
• Project: Peer Recovery Innovation Network (PRIN)
• Topic: Build capacity for current and future recovery-related research and provide training and technical assistance to recovery scientists and trainees
• PIs: Jennifer Potter and Robert Ashford
•Join the Recovery Science ECHO learning community! Learn more about this PRIN initiative here.
• Project: The Infrastructure for Studying Treatment and Addiction Recovery Residences (I-STARR)
• Topic: Enhancing effectiveness research on recovery housing for persons prescribed medication for opioid use disorder
• PIs: Amy Mericle and Carmen Masson
• Project: Planning Grant for a Multi-Site Trial to Examine the Effectiveness of Recovery Community Centers Serving Black Communities to Support Persons Using Medications for Opioid Use Disorder
• Topic: Recovery Community Centers
• Affiliation: Health through Flourishing program, Psychiatry Department, Massachusetts General Hospital; our community partners are the Detroit Recovery Project, the Northern Ohio Recovery Association, and PILLARS.
• PIs: Bettina Hoeppner
• Updates: We have finished data collection for one of our three studies (i.e., survey of OTP directors; manuscript under review), are close to completing data collection for another study (i.e., naturalistic study of people who take MOUDs), and are designing the third study (i.e., pilot RCT).
• Project: Peer Recovery Support Services for Individuals in Recovery Residences on MOUD
• Affiliation: Maryland Treatment Centers
• PIs: Marc Fishman and Kevin Wenzel
• Updates: TBA
• Project: Development of an Integrated Intervention Involving Recovery Coaching and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Opioid Use Disorder
• Affiliation: Clemson University
• PIs: Alain Harris Litwin and Moonseong Heo
• Updates: TBA
LEARN ABOUT HOW TO BECOME A CoARS MEMBER PROJECT
Contact the Co-leaders of the CoARS Grant Development and Sustainability Workgroup:
Amy Mericle: americle@arg.org
Carmen Masson: Carmen.Mason@ucsf.edu
Upcoming seminars:
• The Science of Recovery Community Centers Webinar Series: every first Friday of the month, via Zoom
• The CHEARR & JEAP Initiative Forum Series aims to inspire both early career and senior investigators to pursue new or expanded research on EA recovery support services. This forum is ideal for researchers interested in this field, as well as individuals with lived experience and providers of EA recovery support services who want to engage with research on the topic. Upcoming: Part 2: March 6 | 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET. Part 3: April 10 | 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET. Click the link to learn more about the forum series and register: https://www.jeapinitiative.org/ea-recovery-support-forums/
Upcoming group meetings:
• The FIRST Research Network will be hosting the Diversity and Disparities Meeting every fourth Monday.
• CoARS Measures and Metrics Workgroup: every fourth Tuesday of the month at 10:00 AM EST. Please email Craig Henderson (CEH003@SHSU.EDU) to join!
• The CoARS Showcase will be held every third Wednesday, and will provide a chance for CoARS members to discuss their work and provide collaborative feedback between projects.
• STARS will be holding a Peer Support SIG meeting every first Thursday of the month at 4:00 PM EST.
Upcoming conference:
•Roundtable presentation: Strategies to Promote Collaborative Community-Based Research
Presenters: Hannah Szlyk, Tess Drazdowski, Ashli Sheidow, Bettina Hoeppner, Lindsay Kocen
•Roundtable presentation: Harnessing the Underutilized Power of Concerned Loved Ones as Treatment and Recovery Partners
Presenters: Jessie Calihan, Jessica Chou, Tess Drazdowski, Nicole Porter
•Roundtable presentation: Guiding the Next Generation of Leaders in Recovery Science Research. Presenters: Carmen Masson, Ashli Sheidow
American Psychology-Law Society Annual Conference
•Invited presentation: Making Better Use of Responsivity Needs in Correctional Interventions: Getting the Proportions Right
Presenters: Tamara Kang, Guy Bourgon, Patrick Hibbard, Marva Goodson, Gina Vincent, Jennifer Skeem
Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health (ACCJH)
•Presentation: Recovery Housing, MOUD, and the Criminal Legal System: What We Know, What We Don’t Know, and the Way Forward
Presenters: Patrick Hibbard, Megan Dickson, J. Michael Wilkerson, Sheryl McCurdy
• Please see here for a recap of key takeaways from the JEAP Initiative’s Forum Series on Exploring Barriers and Facilitators to the Use of Medications for Opioid Use Disorders (MOUD)!
• The Center for Dissemination & Implementation at Stanford (C-DIAS) is currently recruiting for a Fellowship in Addiction Dissemination & Implementation (D&I) Science!
• The Peer Recovery Innovation Network (PRIN) is currently recruiting for a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in substance use recovery research!
• The Collaborative Hub for Emerging Adult Recovery Research (CHEARR) is currently recruiting for young adults (ages 18-28) who have taken medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder to join their national community board!
Gilgoff, J. N., Park, E., Price, J., Scott, T., Moyd, T., Rouse, K., Knighton, G., Frey, J. J., Mattocks, N., Shook, E., Tuten, M., Unick, J.,& Wagner, F. A. (2022).
Building equitable community-academic partnerships for opioid recovery research: Lessons learned from stakeholder engagement with peer and
provider organizations. Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, 15(1), 479. doi: 10.54656/jces.v15i1.479
Hogue, A., Becker, S. J., Fishman, M., Henderson, C. E., & Levy, S. (2021). Youth OUD treatment during and after COVID: Increasing family involvement across
the services continuum. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 120, 108159. doi: 10.1016/j.jsat.2020.108159
Hogue, A., Becker, S. J., Wenzel, K., Henderson, C. E., Bobek, M., Levy, S., Fishman, M. (2021). Family involvement in treatment and recovery for substance
use disorders among transition-age youth: Research bedrocks and opportunities. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 129, 108402. doi:
Hogue, A., Bobek, M., Levy, S., Henderson, C. E., Fishman, M., Becker, S. J., Dauber, S., Porter, N., & Wenzel, K. (2021). Conceptual framework for telehealth
strategies to increase family involvement in treatment and recovery for youth opioid use disorder. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 47(2), 501-
514. doi: 10.1111/jmft.12499
Hogue, A., Bobek, M., Porter, N., MacLean, A., Wenzel, K., Fishman, M., Coatsworth, J. D., & Langer, D. A. (2023). Launching relationship-oriented behavioral
services for youth opioid use disorder: Innovations in medication decision-making and adherence planning. Child & Family Behavior Therapy. doi:
Kelly, L. M., Alessi, S. M., Rash, C. J., & Zajac, K. (2024). Predictors of Suicidal Ideation and Continued Substance Use Problems Among Patients Receiving Methadone Maintenance Treatment Who Have Co-Occurring Cocaine Use Disorder. Substance use & misuse, 59(5), 752-762. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2024.2302131
The CoARS Measures Repository is a list of measures collectively used in R24 and R34 funded studies occurring under the CoARS umbrella. The downloadable Excel spreadsheet shows the measures sorted by topic area and network/project, as well as a pivot table that can be useful in identifying measures assessing constructs under different thematic areas.
Hello CoARS Network,
Our team at Chestnut Health Systems has recently released new chapters of the Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) toolkit (just click the large navy-blue banner at the top of the page to access it). This free online resource was created to help researchers build meaningful partnerships with people with lived experience. This toolkit is based upon everything that we’ve learned through collaborating with individuals with lived experience in the HEAL Connections Lived Experience Panel, the JEAP Initiative Community Boards, the Collaborative Hub for Emerging Adult Recovery Research (CHEARR) Community Boards, and the Peer Advanced Training in Harm reduction (PATH) Community Board.
Our goal in creating this toolkit is to help other researchers strive for the highest quality of community-engaged research that is feasible for them at this moment. These types of collaborations help reduce stigma and ensure that the voices of impacted communities are meaningfully included in research. Our intent for this toolkit is to assist other researchers in learning from our experiences and mistakes, with a focus on “when rubber meets the road” for CBPR in substance use research.
We’ve shared a few chapter titles below and more are coming soon, so stay tuned!
• Deciding on Overarching Goals, Objectives, and Research Team Training
• Ensuring Privacy and Confidentiality
• Establishing Criteria for Board Membership
• Recruiting and Selecting Community Board Members
• Conducting Onboarding and Orientation
Join us in celebrating this achievement by exploring the resource and sharing it with your network on social media (details below).
If you have any updates to your CoARS project, please fill out our form.
To sign up for the CoARS listserv please email Mari Watkins mwatkins@toendaddiction.org
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