NIH Funds Murphy’s Research Meant to Enhance Opioid Treatment

Collaboration with UTHSC

Dr. James Murphy, professor in the Department of Psychology, will serve as Principal Investigator on a subaward from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) on an NIH funded R33 award with Dr. Karen Derefinko, associate professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine, as the UTHSC Principal Investigator.

Murphy’s subaward for $107,823 on the NIH grant entitled, “Testing the Effects of Contingency Management and Behavioral Economics on Buprenorphine-Naloxone Treatment Adherence Using a Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial (SMART) Design,” will focus on identifying strategies that can be enacted at the individual, local, and community level that may enhance treatment uptake for those with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). Murphy will assist with the implementation of behavioral economic and motivational interviewing-based brief intervention elements to increase treatment compliance in individuals with Opioid Use Disorder.

This research project will test two forms of behavioral economics intervention to promote Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) for OUD: 1) brief motivational interviewing and substance free activities intervention vs. 2) contingency management, one of the most effective forms of psychosocial treatment for substance use. This innovative SMART design that tests the sequential use of two psychosocial interventions to increase adherence to MAT initiation is likely to have a significant impact on engagement of Opioid Use Disorder patients in treatment. The use of a SMART design will test multiple levels of intervention for individuals who are resistant to MAT adherence, therefore addressing an underserved population with Opioid Use Disorder.

About the NIH (from the NIH Website)

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s medical research agency — making important discoveries that improve health and save lives. NIH’s mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.

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to foster fundamental creative discoveries, innovative research strategies, and their applications as a basis for ultimately protecting and improving health;
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