Community-Based, Client-Centered Prevention Homes to Address the Rural Opioid Epidemic- Aim 3

The goal of this study was to effectively use a client-centered community-based intervention to engage people who inject drugs (PWIDs) in healthcare that helps reduce risky behaviors and lower infectious disease risks. Participants in the intervention group of this study received a 12-week intensive multilevel harm reduction case-management intervention at three rural Vivent Health offices. Service coordination aimed to reduce human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and overdose risks in PWIDs. Prevention Navigators (PNs) at each office helped to coordinate referrals to reduce substance use disorder and increase engagement in the substance use disorder care cascades.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Hepatitis C; Harm Reduction; Opioid-use Disorder; Drug Use Disorders
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Community-Based, Client-Centered Prevention Home

Detailed Description

This project was conducted by an experienced, interdisciplinary team working across academic, public health, and non-government sectors. The main community partner Vivent Health, formerly known as the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARCW), is a unique, state-wide organization that provides harm reduction services, including syringe services and confidential HIV and HCV testing, to clients at 10 fixed sites and numerous mobile units reaching all 72 Wisconsin counties. Based on the investigators' preliminary studies and prior collaborations, the investigators selected 6 counties in rural Wisconsin. The Client-Centered Prevention Home intervention model was implemented at 3 Vivent Health field offices in 3 of these counties, and 3 other counties served as "usual services," or control sites. Participants in the intervention underwent a 12-week intensive multilevel harm reduction case-management intervention geared towards coordinating referrals to reduce substance use disorder and increase engagement in the substance use disorder care cascades, and reduce vulnerability to HIV, STIs, and HCV and increase in engagement in the HIV, STI, and HCV care cascades. Participants in the intervention arm worked with Prevention Navigators to undergo a risk assessment and identify problems and create goals that they want to achieve. Each session after that was used to review the needs assessment and goals. During their last meeting, participants and prevention navigators developed a discharge plan that will enable the participants to work on their goals on their own. Participants at all six sites were offered rapid testing for HIV, HCV, and STIs, and fill out survey questionnaires to evaluate risk behaviors, intervention effectiveness, and general needs of the communities.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 343
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Wisconsin
    • Appleton, Wisconsin, United States, 54911
      • Vivent Health
    • Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States, 54701
      • Vivent Health
    • Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, 54301
      • Vivent Health
    • La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States, 54603
      • Vivent Health
    • Schofield, Wisconsin, United States, 54476
      • Vivent Health
    • Superior, Wisconsin, United States, 54880
      • Vivent Health

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• has injected drugs in the past 30 days, resides in Wisconsin, over 18 years of age
• able to read and write in English

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Prevention Navigation; Participants enrolled in this arm will receive a 12-week community-based, client-centered, prevention intervention.	Other: Community-Based, Client-Centered Prevention Home; Prevention Navigators at Vivent Helath offices will engage participants in risk assessments, goal planning, and treatment referrals based on their needs and desires.; Other Names: Prevention Navigation
No Intervention: Usual Services; Participants enrolled in this arm will receive services as usual from Vivent Health and will not engage in the intervention.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in the Addiction Treatment Accessibility and Utilization as Assessed by Change in Likert Scale	The following question was asked on a scale of 0 to 4, where 0=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree: If I wanted to start medical treatment for opioid or heroin addiction, I could easily get buprenorphine or Suboxone or Subutex. The outcome is represented as the mean response in each intervention group (min 0, max 4)	Pre-intervention, post intervention (3 months)
Change in the Addiction Treatment Accessibility and Utilization as Assessed by Change in Frequency of "Yes" Answers	Following questions will be asked with yes or no answers. In the past 3 months, have you gotten buprenorphine maintenance medication-like Suboxone or Subutex-from a doctor or program? Responses were coded as 0 = "No" and 1 = "Yes." Summary statistics presented as "mean" below represent the proportion responding yes.	Pre-intervention, post intervention (3 months)
Change in the Risk of HIV as Assessed by Change in Likert Scale	Following questions will be asked to gauge ease of accessing clean injecting equipment to assess how risky the participants behaviors are in relation to HIV transmission. "It's easy for me to get new, clean syringes or needles." Questions will be answered on a scale of 0 to 4, with 0=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree. An increase in the Likert scale among intervention participants is associated with increased access to HIV prevention compared to the controls.	Pre-intervention, post intervention (3 months)
Change in the Risk of HIV as Assessed by Risky Behavior Frequencies	Participants were asked to gauge frequency of safe injection behaviors that reduce the risk of HIV. Participants will be asked how many times in the last 30 days they have practiced these behaviors. "In the last 3 months, how often have you shared needles with someone else, used a syringe more than once, used equipment you knew wasn't clean, or received equipment from a potentially unsafe source?" Responses were coded 0="never" and 1="at least once"	Pre-intervention, post intervention (3 months)
Change in the Risk of Drug Overdose as Assessed by Change in Likert Scale	Following question will be asked on a scale of 0 to 4, where 0=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree "If I wanted the overdose reversal drug naloxone or Narcan, I could easily get it."	Pre-intervention, post intervention (3 months)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in the risk of drug overdose as assessed by change in frequency of narcan distribution	ServicePoint data from Vivent Health will be used to understand the frequency of Narcan distribution over the time of the study. Any increase in study participants receiving Narcan would be considered a success for this outcome.	Baseline, 3 months, and 6 months
Change in the treatment frequency of viral hepatitis as assessed by Wisconsin(WI) surveillance databases and Medicaid data.	Frequency of viral hepatitis treatment in participants will be assessed by accessing the WI disease surveillance database known as Wisconsin Electronic Disease Surveillance System (WEDSS). An increase in number of participants receiving treatment will be a success for this outcome. Medicaid data will be monitored to evaluate frequency of treatment.	Baseline, 3 months, and 6 months

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Change in the Risk of Viral Hepatitis as Assessed by Change in Likert Scale	Baseline, 3 months, and 6 months
Change in Smoking Frequency as Assessed by Self-reported Behaviors	Baseline, 3 months, and 6 months
Change in Self-stigma as Assessed by Change in Likert Scale	Baseline, 3 months, and 6 months
Change in the Risk of Drug Overdose as Assessed by Change in Frequency of Narcan Distribution	Baseline, 3 months, and 6 months
Change in the Treatment Frequency of Viral Hepatitis as Assessed by Wisconsin(WI) Surveillance Databases and Medicaid Data	Baseline, 3 months, and 6 months
Addiction Treatment Accessibility and Utilization Frequency Assessment From Long Term Medicaid Data	Year 2
Hepatitis C Treatment Frequency From Long Term Medicaid Data	Year 2

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Collaborators: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA); Tulane University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Ryan Westergaard, MD, PhD, MPH, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 12, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 31, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): July 31, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 11, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 11, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): February 13, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 1, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 23, 2024
• Last Verified: July 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Digestive System Diseases; RNA Virus Infections; Virus Diseases; Infections; Blood-Borne Infections; Communicable Diseases; Liver Diseases; Flaviviridae Infections; Hepatitis, Viral, Human; Narcotic-Related Disorders; Hepatitis; Substance-Related Disorders; Hepatitis C; Opioid-Related Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2017-0866; A534265 (Other Identifier: UW Madison); SMPH/MEDICINE/INFECT DIS (Other Identifier: UW Madison); UH3DA044826 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract); Protocol Version 2/1/2023 (Other Identifier: UW Madison)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Individual participant data collected during the trial, after deidentification. Proposals should be directed to the Data coordinating center at University of Washington. If approved after review, requestors will enter into a formal data sharing agreement. Data will be shared via encrypted single-user file transmission protocol.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data will be available after upload to the data coordinating center at University of Washington and will remain for the time records must be held for, according to our data use agreement.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Data will only be shared among researchers in the cooperative agreement.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF; ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No