Substance Use Disorder and Anti-racism Research Program (SUDA)

Nine people were recruited from the focus groups to join the group as research partners; and are referred to as the Council of Experts on Patient Experience (CEPE). To date, they have served as collaborators at pivotal junctures of this research program. Following the research in the earliest phase, data was analyzed and divided into four separate domains; provider factors, system factors, patient factors, and trauma factors. To understand and interpret what was in the data more than 50 multidisciplinary addiction experts, including people with lived experience from across the state, and a few from across the US were brought together. With funding from the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, four day-long convenings with 20 participants each day were held at Roxbury Community College. Throughout the convening, attendees examined the focus group quotes and information from studies that were gathered. 

The goal of these meetings was to translate what was learned into action items that could be implemented to improve addiction treatment for Black people. The groups produced action items related to the addiction treatment system, and another set related to the larger systems that intersect with addiction, such as policing, incarceration, and agencies charged with protecting families, as well as key unanswered questions. After presenting in the community and at several conferences, the project team published an article describing the project. 

Funded by Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) EASCS-24155

A key finding from the first phase of the SUDA Research Program was that residential addiction settings were often perceived as hostile environments by Black patients, in part due to their punitive and rigid policies, which mimic carceral settings. The goal of the next phase of our work was to understand policies that impact Black patients and develop model anti-racist operational policies specifically tailored for residential addiction treatment programs. With funding from Boston University, the project team conducted key-informant interviews with Black individuals who had experience leading or being patients in programs that were designed to provide culturally tailored treatment to Black patients. In addition, the project team partnered with Brockton Behavioral Health Center Clinical Stabilization Services (CSS) which serves a racially diverse patient population and conducted a series of five focus groups with the leadership team, the staff, and the Black patients. The team conducted a modified thematic analysis to develop a draft of recommendations and then returned to this treatment setting to present the conclusions for feedback. Next steps will include piloting interventions, preparing to measure the impact of implementing these recommendations, and developing training materials and implementation toolkits.  

Funded by the Boston University's Center for Anti-racist Research

The Grayken Center for Addiction will offer addiction researchers consultation on how to make their research more relevant for Black people and more inclusive of Black research participants. This service will be available free of charge, starting in fall of 2025 for BMC/BU researchers. The consultations will be provided by a “Lived Experience Advisory Panel” (LEAP), composed of Black people who have lived experience of problematic substance use. LEAP members are drawn from several regions of the United States, have a variety of professional backgrounds, and are preparing to provide consultation by participating in workshops focused on research methodology. Each consultation will be moderated by a member of the Grayken team who is a clinician-researcher. Through the consultation service, LEAP members will address researchers’ questions and will provide insights about how best to make addiction research more inclusive, relevant, and equitable for Black people. Researchers will receive a set of written recommendations following the consultation. We hope to make this service more widely available to addiction researchers from other institutions in the future.

To set-up a consultation session with LEAP members please fill out intake form here.