Dr. Karen Alexander Receives an R61 Award

FRI is pleased to announce that Dr. Karen Alexander has received an R61 award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for her project “Empowering Support Persons to Enhance the Recovery Capital of Postpartum Women with Opioid Use Disorder.” Postpartum women with opioid use disorder (OUD) demonstrate an overdose risk up to 10 times higher than in other periods in their life course. The presence of supportive individuals (i.e. family or friends) can increase recovery capital and the likelihood of sustained engagement with life-saving treatment. Many family and friends desire to help their loved ones stay engaged in treatment. However, supportive individuals may require additional education and skills to effectively assist their loved ones, representing a critical gap in their ability to influence treatment outcomes. Supporting Treatment for Opioids and Recovery Capital (STORC) aims to enhance recovery for postpartum women with OUD by integrating evidence-based patient navigation with training for supportive individuals identified by postpartum women. STORC will be developed and tested in a randomized controlled trial to evaluate its efficacy in improving recovery capital and retention in opioid agonist treatment (OAT). By empowering support networks, this initiative addresses critical barriers to care and aligns with innovative strategies to improve health outcomes for new mothers at high risk of overdose.