TRTME: Improving Outpatient Initiation of Medication for Opioid Use Disorder Following Hospitalization (TRTME)

August 18, 2026 updated by: T. John Winhusen, PhD

A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial to Improve Outpatient Initiation of Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) Following Hospitalization: The TRTME (Tailored Overdose Risk Feedback, Testimonials for MOUD Treatment, and Education on MOUD and Opioid Overdose) Trial

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the ability of TRTME to increase initiation of MOUD outpatient treatment and MOUD knowledge in hospitalized patients with OUD deemed to be good candidates for MOUD by the UCMC Addiction Consult Team (ACT). The secondary objective is to evaluate the ability of TRTME to decrease stigma and increase drug self-efficacy.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This is an intent-to-treat, two-arm, open-label, pragmatic randomized controlled trial. Eligible participants will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to TRTME or Control. Participants will receive the assigned intervention following randomization, will complete a post-assessment following treatment receipt, and will complete a follow-up phone call at approximately one month posthospital discharge.

All participants will complete assessments of their opioid-overdose and MOUD knowledge and their risk for experiencing an opioid-overdose during baseline. TRTME participants will be offered a 15-minute intervention in which a trained research staff member reviews personal feedback reports with the recipient to provide information on: 1) the items missed on the knowledge assessment; and 2) their personal overdose risk factors. TRTME participants will also have the opportunity to view short videos from patients talking about their experiences with methadone or buprenorphine treatment. Control participants will be offered two SAMHSA handouts.

Enrollment is expected to take place over a period of approximately 7.5 months. Duration of study participation will be approximately 5 weeks.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

30

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Ohio
      • Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, 45229
        • Recruiting
        • University of Cincinnati Addiction Sciences Division

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. 18 years of age or older;
  2. A good candidate for methadone or buprenorphine treatment according to a member of the UCMC Addiction Consult Team

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Have a current planned discharge to a nursing facility
  2. be currently in jail, prison, or any inpatient overnight facility as required by court of law or have pending legal action with high probability of incarceration or court-mandated inpatient treatment
  3. Unable to demonstrate adequate understanding of study procedures during the consent process

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control
Control participants will be offered two SAMHSA handouts: 1) "Opioid Overdose Prevention Toolkit: Safety Advice for Patients and Family Members"; and 2) "Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Addiction: Facts for Families and Friends". These handouts can be offered as physical copies or electronically.
Experimental: TRTME
TRTME participants will be offered a 15-minute intervention in which a trained research staff member reviews personal feedback reports with the recipient to provide information on: 1) the items missed on the knowledge assessment; and 2) their personal overdose risk factors. TRTME participants will also have the opportunity to view short videos from patients talking about their experiences with methadone or buprenorphine treatment.
Behavioral: TRTME
The TRTME intervention includes three elements that have all been previously studied by our research team: 1) brief, personally-tailored education to correct inaccurate, common misconceptions about MOUD and to address knowledge gaps about opioid-overdose; 2) with personally-tailored feedback on the individual's risk factors for experiencing an opioid-overdose; and 3) review of MOUD testimonial videos.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Outpatient MOUD initiation
Time Frame: 30 days

The primary outcome is verified enrollment in outpatient MOUD within 30 days post-discharge.

Participants will be asked about their enrollment in MOUD approximately 30 days after their discharge from the hospital. Participants reporting having enrolled in treatment will be asked to provide a release of information for the treatment program to verify date of treatment enrollment.
30 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
MOUD knowledge score
Time Frame: Immediately after the intervention
The key secondary outcome is MOUD knowledge as measured by the Opioid Overdose and Treatment Awareness Survey (OOTAS) knowledge evaluation. The OOTAS is comprised of 4 sections: 1) opioid-overdose risk factors; 2) signs of an opioid-overdose; 3) how to respond to an opioid-overdose; and 4) misconceptions about MOUD. The OOTAS has been successfully used to measure MOUD knowledge and knowledge change in three studies. The OOTAS includes 10 true-false questions to assess MOUD knowledge, yielding a potential score of 0-10.Secondary Outcome Measures
Immediately after the intervention
MOUD Stigma
Time Frame: Immediately after the intervention

There are no existing validated measures for assessing MOUD stigma in patients who are good candidates for MOUD but have not yet entered treatment. The Medication for Opioid Use Disorder Attitudes Scale (MOUD-AS) was created by OpenEvidence based on stigmatizing beliefs about MOUD among patients considering treatment. The MOUD-AS includes 16 items scored from

1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The total score, which has a potential range of 16-80, is the outcome of interest.
Immediately after the intervention
Drug Self-efficacy
Time Frame: Immediately after the intervention
Self-efficacy in quitting drug use will be assessed with the Thoughts about abstinence (TAA) instrument. This measure assesses the participant's desire to quit, expected success in quitting and estimated difficulty in avoiding drug use. Our MOUD education intervention has been found to increase expected success in quitting drug use as measured by the TAA.
Immediately after the intervention
Opioid-overdose knowledge score
Time Frame: Immediately after the intervention
Opioid-overdose knowledge will be measured by the first three sections of the OOTAS. The OOTAS has been successfully used to measure opioid-overdose knowledge and knowledge change in three prior studies conducted with individuals with OUD. The OOTAS includes 31 true-false questions to assess opioid-overdose knowledge, yielding a potential score of 0-31.
Immediately after the intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

T. John Winhusen, PhD

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: T. John Winhusen, PhD., University of Cincinnati

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

August 12, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

February 28, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

February 28, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 11, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 18, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

August 21, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 21, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 18, 2026

Last Verified

August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2026-0331

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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