PROJECT ABSTRACT
Opioid use disorder and overdose deaths represent a national public health crisis that has been particularly
acute in central Appalachia for decades. While treatment access and engagement are improving across
Appalachia, the quality of the recovery support ecosystem is reflected in the small percentage of individuals
who successfully maintain treatment with medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) or abstain in recovery.
An interface of community and treatment, peer recovery support services (PRSS) are a particularly high value
proposition to enhance treatment outcomes and the recovery process, though one for which there is currently
limited evidence to inform the content of their practice and use, particularly in the context of MOUD. While
research to advance recovery support services is urgently needed in central Appalachia, insufficiencies in
basic infrastructure, such as research capacity, engaged clinical research sites, and data infrastructure remain
barriers to PRSS implementation and study. In response, the Studies To Advance Recovery Support (STARS)
Network, a thematic, stakeholder-focused research network, will be initiated from an established regional
research consortium—the Opioids Research Consortium of Central Appalachia (ORCCA). The following
network aims will be executed by leveraging assets inherent to ORCCA and concentrating on PRSS for
individuals treated in the context MOUD clinics: 1) build university and health system partner capacity to
conduct community-engaged PRSS research; 2) enroll cohorts of MOUD clinics and PRSS professionals to
foster commitment to engage in rapid conduct of PRSS studies; 3) advance processes and technologies to
harmonize data and research efficiencies that advance PRSS studies across institutional partners; and 4)
advance STARS network capacity to conduct rapid-cycle intervention research using rigorous designs. A
dynamic team, jointly led by established ETSU and Virginia Tech researchers and facilitated by ORCCA
institutions and PRSS partners with lived experience in recovery, offer assurance of successful execution. The
proposed work is innovative because it aligns assets of an established opioids research consortium for
maximum efficiency, demonstrates a novel application of the Recovery Ready Ecosystem Model, and creates
rigorously developed assessment tools and critical cohort platforms of PRSS professionals and MOUD clinics
for the purpose of recovery research. The proposed work is significant because the expected outcomes and
products will mitigate current barriers to, and establish a foundation for, high-priority PRSS research in the
central Appalachian region (KY, TN, VA, WV), a region devastated by the opioid crisis. Consistent with the
NIDA mission, our long-term goal for this work is to inform the expansion of recovery support services,
particularly PRSS, and advance recovery among individuals treated with MOUD.