Based on Research Conducted at OSLC

This study (an Administrative Supplement to NIDA #R01DA041425) will determine if POs can deliver an evidence-based intervention as a means to ultimately prevent opioid use disorder among high-risk emerging adults.

Project Overview

Funds for this administrative supplement were awarded as part of the National Institute on Drug Abuse HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Initiative focusing specifically on preventing the development of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) in young adults (ages 18-30). The overarching purpose of this pilot study is to increase justice-involved young adults’ access to an evidence-based practice (EBP) for substance abuse, specifically Contingency Management (CM). The study’s ultimate aim is to prevent development of OUD in young adults who are on probation/parole, an under-researched but extraordinarily vulnerable group for developing problems with opioids. CM is an evidence-based practice for substance abuse, including opioid and polysubstance use. Because other substance use is usually a precursor to opioid misuse and OUD in justice-involved young adults, this study proposes that CM could be used to prevent conversion to OUD. The project will recruit 10 probation officers from Parole and Probation offices in Oregon and train them to deliver CM to 30 (3 per probation officer) of their substance-using young adult clients who do not yet meet criteria for an OUD. By utilizing POs, the potential for increasing emerging adults’ access to an EBP is immense as POs operate in every jurisdiction in the nation. In addition, the study will conduct focus groups with stakeholders from rural communities in areas highly affected by the opioid epidemic to help identify factors for the generalizability of POs to deliver CM in rural communities. Data will be analyzed to discover themes related to PO service delivery of CM to ensure future national scalability.

Year Project Began: 2019
Funder: National Institute on Drug Abuse

Principal Investigator

Ashli J. Sheidow, Ph.D.

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Senior Research Scientist
Oregon Social Learning Center

Active Research Projects

Primary Research and Clinical Interests

Dr. Sheidow researches treatments for mental health and substance use problems in adolescents and emerging adults, particularly those who have co-occurring problems or are justice-involved. She’s also focused on effective dissemination of evidence-based practices, in particular through improving training and support for community-based providers.

Dr. Sheidow’s research interests have focused broadly on the development, prevention, and treatment of adolescent and young adult psychopathology and delinquency from an ecological perspective, with concentrations in co-occurring disorders, effective dissemination of evidence-based practices, and advanced quantitative methods. Her work, funded primarily by NIDA and NIMH, has included intervention development and evaluation projects, as well as dissemination and implementation research. She is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse and the Journal of Behavioral Health Services Research, and has led programming for national conferences on adolescent substance abuse research.