Optimizing Opioid Use Disorder Treatment in Prisons

Dr. Helen Jack, assistant professor (General Internal Medicine) has received an R01 funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) for her project “Optimizing Opioid Use Disorder Treatment in Prisons: Strategies for Diagnosis and Shared Decision-Making.”

This five-year $3.4 million grant will focus on improving opioid use disorder care in Washington State prisons, focusing on the early steps in opioid use disorder care.

Researchers will be determining the performance of brief screening and diagnostic tools for opioid use disorder in a prison, conducting a randomized controlled trial of shared decision-making about opioid use disorder treatment for people who are incarcerated, and examining its impact on medication treatment engagement prior to release.

This grant is part of NIDA’s Justice Community Overdose Innovation Network (JCOIN).