Building a Network for Community-Engaged Research Related to Substance Use Disorder Care Transitions: A Commentary...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Addiction Medicine
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Hospitalizations are common for individuals with substance use disorders (SUD), presenting critical opportunities for care engagement.
• These hospitalizations are destabilizing, increasing risks of death and readmission post-discharge.
• Current approaches lack consensus for effectively supporting SUD patients during care transitions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a community-engaged research protocol for improving care transitions for patients with SUD.
• To integrate core principles of community-engaged research into the project design.
• To foster collaborative priority setting and intervention design for better post-discharge care.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a community-engaged research framework to ensure equitable collaboration.
• Engaging diverse partners including people with lived experience, clinicians, and social workers.
• Developing a protocol for the COmmunity Network to Navigate and Enhance Care Transitions (CONNECT) project.

Main Results:

• The protocol design emphasizes collaborative efforts in setting research priorities.
• Core principles of community-engaged research were integrated throughout the project framework.
• The CONNECT project protocol aims to address the complexity of care transitions for SUD patients.

Conclusions:

• Community engagement is crucial for developing effective interventions for SUD care transitions.
• A collaborative approach involving diverse stakeholders is essential for improving patient outcomes.
• The presented protocol provides a model for community-engaged research in addiction and health services.