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Emergency Medicine Peer Outreach Worker Engagement for Recovery

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

Who can join

Ages 18 and older · All sexes · Healthy volunteers welcome

Inclusion 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.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Unable to provide informed consent
2. In police custody, incarcerated, or have a court ordered treatment enrollment

About the study

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.

What is being tested

• Substance Misuse Assistance Response Team (SMART) (behavioral)
• Usual Care Group (other)

Sponsor: University of California, Los Angeles · Participants: 400 · Started: Jul 1, 2024

Contact the study team

• Ashley Gaipo · Phone: (401) 444-3374

Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT06320015

Locations in the U.S.

Conditions

• Drug Use and Addiction
• Opioid Overdose
• Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)

From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Sep 30, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.