DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL PEER RECOVERY SUPPORTER TRAINING PLATFORM

Thrive Digital Health ("TDH") is developing a novel Peer Recovery Support Services ("PRSS") training platform (the "TDPP") to standardize and scale the training of Peer Recovery Supporters. TDH was founded by the principals of two successful existing companies at the forefront of advancing PRSS, and benefits from the expertise of its CEO, who in addition to serving on the board of the Peer Recovery Center of Excellence, is a nationally recognized thought leader on PRSS training and implementation. The overarching goal of this Fasttrack project is to develop and test an evidence-based platform that will extend standards-based and empirically-supported Peer Recovery Support Services training and implementation across the country. Success in this endeavor will expand access to support services for recovery from alcohol and other substance use disorders, and help to address critical care gaps stemming from the treatment provider shortage currently impacting the nation. We hypothesize that this scalable platform, used by PRSS Trainers and Trainees, will be acceptable, feasible and usable, and will deliver a positive effect in terms of knowledge gain, adherence and skill in Phase I. In Phase II of this Fasttrack effort, we hypothesize that this platform will deliver superior training results among PRSS trainees in terms of adherence and skill versus training-as-usual. Our priority commercial goal is to bring this solution to market with organizations around the country seeking to build PRSS capacity, and we will accomplish this through the following Phase II specific aims: (1) Assess the effect on PRSS providers of the fully asynchronous TDPP and the TDPP with live zoom sessions on skill and adherence compared with training-as-usual; (2) Assess the effect of adding three live, interactive group teleconferencing sessions to the TDPP asynchronous content; (3) Conduct a pre-post study with a pilot population of PRSS provider trainees from another state to assess fidelity of implementation when content is localized for another state. The expected impact of this project is to substantially enhance TDH's ability to deliver effective PRSS training at scale, expanding access to recovery support services across the country. This capability holds promise to reduce negative health impacts at both an individual and societal level while reducing the total cost of providing treatment services.

Inclusion criteria

Eligible participants will be prospective PRSS providers residing in the U.S., ages 18 and over, with at least one year of continuous sobriety.

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Exclusion criteria

We will exclude individuals with eligibility questionnaire responses indicating: (a) an inability to read or speak English; (b) active suicidal ideation (PHQ-9, Item 9); (c) severe anxiety (GAD-7 >15); (d) significant medical illnesses, and; (e) unable to complete the baseline assessment or unavailable for computer and telephone follow-ups over the approximately ten month study period.

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