Friday, April 26, 2024
4/26/2024
The proposed University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work (PITT SSW) Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and Co-Occurring Mental Health Disorder (CO-MH) Training and Integration Program will develop and integrate 18-hours of comprehensive education on SUD and CO-MH into the Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Master of Social Work (MSW) curricula at PITT SSW. This is an application in response to Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) FG-20-001 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The population of focus includes 400 BA and MSW students at PITT SSW. PITT SSW will be collaborating with the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy Program Evaluation and Research Unit (PERU), the applicant organization, on this proposed initiative. PERU will lead curriculum development and integration, train faculty champions, organize continuing education (CE) events, and lead all program evaluation activities. PITT SSW will integrate the SUD and CO-MH curriculum into the current BA and MSW curricula, facilitate in-class lecture and discussion on the curriculum’s learning objectives, work with the Administration of Social Work Boards (AWSB) to implement examination questions related to SUD, and sustain the program within the curricula following the completion of the grant. Key goals of this project are to develop a comprehensive SUD and CO-MH curriculum for BA and MSW students, integrate the curriculum into the current BA and MSW curricula, increase the number of questions related to SUD on the AWSB licensing exams, and increase the number of social workers who are trained on SUD and CO-MH to inform and improve clinical work with clients diagnosed with any SUD and/or CO-MH through the developed curriculum and CE events. To achieve these objectives, the program will do the following: (1) develop a comprehensive curriculum on best practices related to screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) strategies, assessing clients for SUD and CO-MH, treatment principles and their application to alcohol, marijuana, stimulant, and opioid use and misuse, strategies to decrease stigma in healthcare, and managing clients with CO-MH; (2) integrate the curriculum into the current BA and MSW curricula; (3) perform a comprehensive evaluation in years’ one and two of the program via interviews and surveys and according to all SAMHSA Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) requirements to continuously improve the content and delivery of the curriculum and to evaluate the overall utility; (4) work with AWSB to implement questions related to SUD identification, treatment, and prevention by providing AWSB with potential questions based on evaluations measuring knowledge acquisition developed during the program; (5) sponsoring CE events for students, faculty, and graduates; and (6) sustain the full SUD and CO-MH curriculum beyond the life of the grant funding. The program will span April 2020 to April 2022. This training and education program will expand access to SUD and CO-MH education and increase the number of social workers trained and educated on best practices related to SUD and CO-MH identification, treatment, and prevention.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
