More than 23 million Americans age 12 or older need treatment for substance abuse and addiction, yet only a fraction—less than 10 percent—actually receive it. Worse, among those who do get treatment, very few have access to the treatments that are known to work.
 |
Paul Roman |
“We have treatments that work, and we have people who want treatment,” said Paul Roman, UGA Distinguished Research Professor of sociology and director of UGA’s Center for Research on Behavioral Health and Human Services Delivery, a component of the Institute for Behavioral Research. “The problem now is getting treatment providers to adopt new, promising practices so that substance abusers can get the best treatment available.”
Roman and a team of researchers based in the IBR have been awarded multiple grants totaling $9 million from both federal and private sources to improve the quality of substance abuse treatment. Last fall, Roman was awarded a five-year
$3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the diffusion, adoption and implementation of substance abuse treatment practices that work by a network of clinical treatment providers across the country. Co-investigators are UGA research scientists Lori Ducharme, Aaron Johnson and Hannah Knudsen. This grant follows a five-year $2.85 million grant from NIH in 2006 to continue a 15-year study tracking organizational changes and development in the national substance abuse treatment system.
“It is hard to overestimate the societal value, both in dollars and in quality of life, of identifying effective ways to disseminate research-based treatments,” said David Lee, vice president for research. “It is a source of pride for UGA that we have such a strong research group working in this area.”
Roman has observed the evolution of alcohol abuse and drug addiction treatment for more than 25 years. New validated treatments available in recent years include FDA-approved pharmacotherapies for the treatment of addiction, and psychosocial counseling and behavioral therapies. However, as Roman’s research has uncovered, individual, organizational and systemic barriers can get in the way of delivering those treatments to substance abusers.
The platform for Roman’s latest grant was laid in 1999 when the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a division of NIH, launched its Clinical Trials Network with the goal of testing scientifically-sound treatment practices in treatment settings to determine whether these practices will work in the “real world,” and what, if any, modifications may be needed. Beginning in 2001, NIH added funding to Roman’s research program to examine the adoption of CTN-studied practices within the network of CTN providers and compare them to programs outside the CTN, including public-sector treatment programs where increasing numbers of patients seek treatment.
Complementing his NIH funded-research, Roman also has a $1.9 million grant to evaluate Advancing Recovery, a national program that aims to improve the quality of addiction care by supporting provider and state partnerships. |
