Emergency Medicine Peer Outreach Worker Engagement for Recovery

Description

This is an observational, prospective case-control study evaluating the effects of an emergency department community health worker-peer recovery specialist program (PCHW), the Substance Misuse Assistance Response Team (SMART). Aims of this study are to 1) understand participant experiences working with a SMART PCHW and identify possible mechanisms for successful recovery linkage; 2) Evaluate SMART effectiveness on patient-centered outcomes, building recovery capital, and recovery linkage; 3) Evaluate SMART implementation and effectiveness on patient outcomes over time. Using a combination of surveys and data linkages to state administrative databases, study investigators will prospectively compare changes in addiction treatment engagement, recovery capital, health related social needs, acute care utilization, and death between people receiving a ED PCHW and those who do not. After consenting to study participation, participants will complete surveys at time of study enrollment and 3 and 6 months after their initial ED visit. Primary outcomes include engagement in addiction treatment, social services engagement, acute care utilization, and mortality will be assessed through linkages to state administrative databases.

Conditions

Substance Use Disorders, Overdose, Opioid Use Disorder, Alcohol Use Disorder

Study Overview

Study Details

Study overview

This is an observational, prospective case-control study evaluating the effects of an emergency department community health worker-peer recovery specialist program (PCHW), the Substance Misuse Assistance Response Team (SMART). Aims of this study are to 1) understand participant experiences working with a SMART PCHW and identify possible mechanisms for successful recovery linkage; 2) Evaluate SMART effectiveness on patient-centered outcomes, building recovery capital, and recovery linkage; 3) Evaluate SMART implementation and effectiveness on patient outcomes over time. Using a combination of surveys and data linkages to state administrative databases, study investigators will prospectively compare changes in addiction treatment engagement, recovery capital, health related social needs, acute care utilization, and death between people receiving a ED PCHW and those who do not. After consenting to study participation, participants will complete surveys at time of study enrollment and 3 and 6 months after their initial ED visit. Primary outcomes include engagement in addiction treatment, social services engagement, acute care utilization, and mortality will be assessed through linkages to state administrative databases.

Emergency Department Community Health Worker-Peer Recovery Navigation for Linkage to Recovery: a Mixed Methods Evaluation

Emergency Medicine Peer Outreach Worker Engagement for Recovery

Condition
Substance Use Disorders
Intervention / Treatment

-

Contacts and Locations

Providence

Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island, United States, 02903

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

For general information about clinical research, read Learn About Studies.

Eligibility Criteria

  • 1. Adults 18 years old or older
  • 2. Seen and treated at Rhode Island or The Miriam Hospital ED for a substance use-related concern including intoxication, withdrawal, opioid overdose, opioid withdrawal, or substance use-related infection
  • 3. Able to provide informed consent
  • 4. Able to provide at least two forms of contact (personal phone, social media, email, or contact information for family or friends)
  • 5. Participants may speak languages other than English but require use of interpreter services. Consents will be available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, the three most spoken languages in the Providence metropolitan area.
  • 1. Unable to provide informed consent
  • 2. In police custody, incarcerated, or have a court ordered treatment enrollment

Ages Eligible for Study

18 Years to

Sexes Eligible for Study

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Collaborators and Investigators

University of California, Los Angeles,

Elizabeth Samuels, MD, MPH, MHS, PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR, UCLA Emergency Medicine

Study Record Dates

2026-09