Increasing peer support for OUD recovery during COVID-19 through digital health: protocol for a national randomized controlled trial
ABSTRACT
Background:
Increasing numbers of opioid overdoses have been observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, likely reflecting the pandemic’s multiple effects on this already vulnerable population. People in recovery from opioid use disorder (OUD) have reported disproportionate psychosocial distress and isolation, as well as significant disruptions in access to treatment including peer support, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Peer support is a key component of many evidence-based OUD recovery programs: it improves recovery capital, treatment engagement, perceived social support, and reduces psychosocial distress, particularly when used in conjunction with other evidence-based treatments such as medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD).
Objective:
This study aims to evaluate a novel mobile peer support app platform among a national sample of individuals in recovery from OUD as an adjunct to usual care, during COVID-19.
Methods:
Individuals residing in the United States who are 18+, own a smartphone and self-report any of the following: being in recovery for an OUD, being in treatment for an OUD (i.e., in the past-30 days received prescribed methadone, naltrexone, or buprenorphine), or currently receiving some form of assisted recovery support (n = 1300) will be recruited through online targeted social media advertisements. Eligible participants will be randomly assigned (1:1) to a mobile peer recovery support intervention utilizing a novel smart-phone based application (‘App’) versus a control. Participants will complete one baseline survey and then a follow up survey 1, 3, and 6 months post-randomization. The primary aim of recovery capital will be determined by the change in recovery capital, between study groups, over the six-month study period. We will also examine treatment engagement using administrative data in a subset of individuals (n=650) residing in Rhode Island and Indiana.
Results:
As of June 2022, we enrolled 43 participants.
Conclusions:
If this mobile app demonstrates efficacy among a large national sample of patients, it has the potential to augment existing treatment programs, improve recovery capital, and reduce disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on this vulnerable population. Clinical Trial: NCT05405712
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.