Project Overview
The P2P project is designed to determine whether the use of peer recovery supports can reduce dropout among emerging adults starting treatment for substance use problems
Emerging adults (defined as ages 18 to 25) have higher rates of substance use disorders than any other age group and have been hit particularly hard by the opioid crisis. They also have high rates of dropout from substance use treatment services compared to other age groups, leading to higher rates of continued substance abuse and overdose, as well worse clinic productivity, agency income, and waitlists. Peer recovery supports, defined as similar age peers with lived experience with substance use treatment, have the potential to help engage and retain emerging adults in treatment. Peer recovery supports will be provided by the grant to teach straightforward skills to help emerging adults overcome barriers to treatment.
Ten different sites (locations) that provide substance use treatment services will participate in this study. All ten sites will receive two years of free peer recovery support services for their emerging adult patients at some point during the course of the project; these peer recovery supports will be trained and supervised by our research team, in collaboration with the sites’ clinical supervisors. We will compare the rates of retention and attendance of emerging adult patients prior to and after the initiation of the peer recovery support services. The goal is to observe whether adding peer recovery supports services increases retention of emerging adult patients in each individual clinic, as well as identifying specific risk factors for dropout in this age group.
Year Project Began: 2021Funder: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Principal Investigator
Ashli J. Sheidow, Ph.D.
Oregon Social Learning Center
Active Research Projects
- Peer to Peer Engagement for Emerging Adult Treatment (P2P)
- Probation Officers – Contingency Management – Emerging Adults (PO-CM-EA)
- Leveraging Evidence to Activate Parents (LEAP)
- The JEAP Initiative – Justice-Involved and Emerging Adults Populations Initiative
- CM+
- Multisystemic Therapy for Emerging Adults MST-EA (NIDA)
- Juvenile Probation Officers-Contingency Management (JPO-CM)
- Multisystemic Therapy for Emerging Adults MST-EA (NIMH)
- SAF – Randomized Trial of Supervisor Audit-and-Feedback Intervention
- RRFT: Integrative Risk Reduction and Treatment for Teen Substance Use Problems and PTSD
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.