Molfenter, T., Vechinski, J., Taxman, F. S., Breno, A. J., Shaw, C. C., & Perez, H. A. (2021). Fostering MOUD use in justice populations: Assessing the comparative effectiveness of two favored implementation strategies to increase MOUD use. Journal of substance abuse treatment, 128, 108370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2021.108370 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33762145/ 

This protocol paper outlined a future study aiming to see how effective different levels of coaching for MOUD are. There are four arms that would be used: high and low doses of NIATx coaching, with and without ECHO coaching added. The study would involve jails and community-based treatment programs that work with the jails. NIATx coaching focuses on organizations and their efficiency, while ECHO coaching focuses on improving clinical staff’s understanding of MOUD treatment. Jails anticipated to participate include those looking to implement or expand their MOUD treatment, as well as those looking to increase numbers of individuals seeking care after release. Due to COVID-19, jails and community-based treatment programs who originally were interested in participating had to withdraw and the study will be done with two cohorts. 

Bottom Line: Coaching has been found to be helpful in addressing barriers and improving implementation, however, there has not been much research into how effective coaching is for criminal justice settings.