Addiction Research Foundation

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Addiction Research Foundation

Addiction Research Foundation

The addiction research foundation is led by Pam and Steve Moore, co-founders of the Moore Institute, Inc., a clinical practice that is devoted to helping individuals and families affected by drug addiction.

The Moores are supported by research partner, NOVA Research Company (Silver Spring, Maryland).

The Foundation is also supported by their Clinical Advisory Committee. The Committee, made up of experts in the field of addiction medicine, advises the Foundation regarding current and future clinical research activities. The Foundations legal counsel is Kim Davidson, JD.

Foundation Mission:

The addiction research foundation’s mission is to conduct and support research that improves treatment outcomes for persons with substance abuse disorders. Formed an August 2013, the foundation strive to accomplish its mission through:

• Retrospective analysis of treated populations

Retrospective analysis – Retrospective analysis look at patient data collected in the past to determine factors that might have influenced treatment outcomes for patients

• Prospective and longitudinal study of treated populations

Prospective study – Prospective studies collect data from patients from a designated period of time (usually no more than a few years and often less).

Longitudinal study – Longitudinal studies collect data from a group of patients over a longer period of time (sometimes for life).

• Development and testing of new assessment tools

• Publication and dissemination of relevant results

The foundation is privately funded. To avoid any real or perceived conflict of interest, the foundation does not accept donations of support from the addiction treatment industry, pharmaceutical industry, or related associations.

Hope for Help

The Addiction Research Foundation seeks to improve Alcohol addiction research treatment outcomes with the primary goal of improving post-treatment quality of life through long-term outcomes research. Research Foundation staff conducted a literature review that and identify gaps in current research related to addiction treatment outcomes. Current Foundation research projects are designed to address those research gaps.

Current Research

Quality of Life Among Substance Abuse in Treatment Programs

The Problem

Increasing drug use and alcohol abuse is a devastating and costly problem in the United States. Many alcohol and drug users cannot pay for their treatment, do not have health insurance, or their health insurance limits the type or length of treatment covered. According to the national survey, in 2012, fewer than 11% of the 23.1 million people who needed a treatment for an illicit drug or alcohol use problem reported receiving treatment in a facility focused on substance abuse.

Under the Affordable Care Act, treatment providers will be reimbursed based on outcomes. As a result, providers urgently need research evidence that shows what methods improve treatment outcomes.

In particular, research is needed on outcomes for patients treated over time. Current measures tend to be relatively short-term, resulting in generalized assumptions with potential for it accurate interventions.

Most treatment recommendations are based on our understanding of two small segments of the patient population:

1. Those who follow treatment recommendations and appear in follow-up groups and data.

2. Those who are not compliant and appear in the data as readmissions.

Unfortunately, we know very little about the largest segment of the treated population, those with unknown outcomes. This “unknown outcomes” group is made up of non-compliant patients (those who do not comply with follow up treatment recommendations) who do not appear as readmissions.

The Project

Quality of Life Among Substance Abusers in Treatment Programs is designed to collect evidence that indicates what treatment methods improve outcomes for patients treated over time. The study will gather data from individuals across all segments of the treated population: the compliant, the noncompliant, and the unknown outcome group.

Over a 5-year period, study participants will be assessed at regular intervals post-treatment by components of primary treatment and aspects of the treatment discharge plan that are associated with reduction in substance use and improved quality of life.

A web-based assessment tool will be used to connect information from patient regarding:

• Treatment and discharge plans/activities

• Current substance use/abstinence

• Psychological factors potentially associated with reduction of substance use and improve quality-of-life

• Other psychosocial outcomes such as employment, education, income, general health, and mental well-being

Target Population

The study focuses on patients who voluntarily seek substance use treatment in privately funded, inpatient treatment centers in the United States.

Key Patient Characteristics

• Self-admitted

• Seeking drug and alcohol rehabilitation

Keep Facility Characteristics

• Privately funded.

• Not subject to the same cost restrictions as publicly funded institutions and can offer longer treatment programs.

• More likely to have lower staff to patient ratios.

• More likely to provide more ancillary services, and offer a complementary and alternative treatment approaches.

Research Questions

The study seeks to answer the following primary research questions:

1. What are facilitators and barriers to patient completion of inpatient treatment programs?

2. What is the extent of discharge/recovery plan is generally, and what aspect of discharge/recovery plans play a significant role in changing substance use and improved quality of life?

3. What psychological factors play a role in positive treatment outcomes?

The Project

Initial piloting was conducted in spring 2014. Data collection started in June 2014 and is anticipated to run through 2019.

Interim research findings will be posted on this website, source.