In partnership with two American Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest, the University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute will begin a new study to address critical barriers to implementation of medication assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD) in tribal communities.
MAT approaches have been shown to substantially improve outcomes for OUD patients, yet provider and patient biases against MAT and organizational barriers to MAT use are widespread, particularly within tribal communities where there is a strong preference toward total abstinence as a goal.
The study aim is to identify knowledge and perceptions of MAT approaches and barriers/facilitators for implementation and sustained use. Qualitative and quantitative data from providers, clients, and other stakeholders will be collected. Study results will inform future clinical efforts to tailor MAT for high need, low resource American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) populations.
Sandra Radin, PhD will serve as Principal Investigator. Dennis M. Donovan, PhD is a co-investigator, as is Dennis Wendt, PhD, who has been a postdoctoral fellow at ADAI for two years. He collaborate from his new position at McGill University in Montreal. Tribal communities participating in the project include one in an urban setting and one that is reservation-based.
