The use of online methods to recruit and follow a hard-to-reach population in the Peer Alternatives for Addiction Study 2021 Cohort.

Background: Although studies are increasingly adopting online protocols, few such studies in the addiction field have comprehensively described their data review procedures and successes in detecting low-quality/fraudulent data. The current study describes data collection protocols and outcomes of a large, longitudinal study (the PAL Study 2021) that implemented online design elements to study individuals seeking peer support for an alcohol use disorder.

Methods: In 2021, the PAL Study collaborated with mutual-help group (MHG) partners and recovery-related organizations to recruit individuals attending a 12-step group, Women for Sobriety (WFS), LifeRing Secular Recovery, and/or SMART Recovery for an alcohol problem in-person and/or online in the prior 30 days.

Reasons for choosing sober living houses and their associations with substance use recovery outcomes.

Background: Sober living houses (SLHs) offer abstinence-based housing for people in recovery. Studies have shown that these supportive environments are associated with positive outcomes, yet little is known about why residents choose SLHs and their relationship to recovery outcomes.

Methods: Longitudinal data were collected from SLH residents who completed an interview six months after baseline (N = 462).

Resilience Through Social Support: An Intersectional Analysis of Sexual Minority Women's Social Resources for Wellbeing.

Sexual minority women (SMW) are at higher risk for a range of health conditions (e.g. depression, anxiety, and alcohol use disorder) than heterosexual women.

A Nationwide Survey Study of Recovery Community Centers Supporting People in Recovery From Substance Use Disorder.

Objective: The medical community has become aware of its role in contributing to the opioid epidemic and must be part of its resolution. Recovery community centers (RCCs) represent a new underused component of recovery support.

Methods: This study performed an online national survey of all RCCs identified in the United States, and used US Census ZIP code tabulation area data to describe the communities they serve.

Assessing a pilot scheme of intensive support and assertive linkage in levels of engagement, retention, and recovery capital for people in recovery housing using quasi-experimental methods.

Introduction: Strong and ever-growing evidence highlights the effectiveness of recovery housing in supporting and sustaining substance use disorder (SUD) recovery, especially when augmented by intensive support that includes assertive linkages to community services. This study aims to evaluate a pilot intensive recovery support (IRS) intervention for individuals (n = 175) entering certified Level II and III recovery residences. These individuals met at least three out of five conditions (no health insurance; no driving license; substance use in the last 14 days; current unemployment; possession of less than $75 capital).

Giving and Receiving Help among Persons Entering Sober Living Houses.

Giving and receiving help are integral to creating the social environments necessary to support recovery. However, studies assessing the effects of helping behaviors have focused primarily on the benefits derived from giving help to others in 12-step programs and treatment. The current study examined the frequency of giving and receiving help among 188 persons entering sober living houses (SLHs), a type of recovery home that is common in California.

Mapping COVID vulnerability in relation to drug and alcohol recovery residence availability across the United States.

Recovery housing is an important resource for those in recovery from substance use disorders. Unfortunately, we know little about its relationship to key community health risk and protective factors, potentially limiting the role it could play as a broader health resource. Leveraging county-level data on recovery residences from the National Study of Treatment and Addiction Recovery Residences (NSTARR), this study used multilevel modeling to examine Community COVID Vulnerability Index (CCVI) scores as well as availability of COVID testing and vaccination sites in relation to recovery housing.

Social Model Recovery and Recovery Housing.

Recovery housing is an important resource for many in their recovery from alcohol and other drug use disorders. Yet providers of recovery housing face a number of challenges. Many of these challenges are rooted in stigma and bias about recovery housing.

Disparities in Alcoholics Anonymous Participation from 2000 to 2020 Among U.S. Residents With an Alcohol Use Disorder in the National Alcohol Survey.

Objective: Mutual-help groups (MHGs) like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) are effective for resolving alcohol use disorders (AUDs), but few studies have examined disparities in MHG participation, particularly recently. We used five waves of National Alcohol Survey data to investigate whether prevalence of AA attendance among those with a lifetime AUD differed by race/ethnicity, age, and sex, directly testing whether these associations varied with time.

Method: Analyses pooled weighted data from 2000 to 2020, including only participants with a lifetime AUD and identifying as non-Hispanic White, Latinx/Hispanic, or non-Hispanic Black/African American ( = 8,876).

Multilevel Effects of Environmental and Neighborhood Factors on Sober Living House Resident 12-Month Outcomes.

Objective: Sober living houses (SLHs) are abstinence-based environments designed for individuals in recovery to live with others in recovery. Research shows that SLHs help some individuals maintain recovery and that certain SLH-related factors may be particularly protective. Here we assess how SLH housing and neighborhood characteristics are related to abstinence and psychiatric symptoms over time.

Outcomes Among Sober Living House Residents Who Relapse: Role of Recovery Capital.

Studies show individuals living in residential recovery homes on average make significant improvements in multiple areas of functioning. Residents who achieve and maintain complete abstinence have particularly good outcomes. Residents who relapse after entering the houses have been studied minimally.

Moving Social Model Recovery Forward: Recent Research on Sober Living Houses.

Social model recovery is a peer centered approach to alcohol and drug problems that is gaining increased attention. This approach is well-suited to services in residential settings and typically includes living in a shared alcohol- and drug-free living environment where residents give and receive personal and recovery support. Sober Living Houses (SLHs) are recovery residences that explicitly use a social model approach.

Development and initial findings from the Peer Recovery Coach (PRC) checklist: a new tool to assess the nature of peer recovery coaching service delivery.

Peer recovery coaching is recovery support service for Substance Use Disorder (SUD) that emphasizes shared lived experience and social support. Though a promising intervention for SUD, differences in the roles, responsibilities, and operationalization of peer recovery coaching across studies make objective implementation and evaluation of this service a challenge. This study sought to develop a tool to better guide and operationalize peer recovery coaching service delivery.

Do neighborhood characteristics of sober living houses impact recovery outcomes? A multilevel analysis of observational data from Los Angeles County.

Objective: To identify neighborhood factors associated with recovery outcomes for sober living house (SLH) residents.

Methods: Six-month longitudinal data for new SLH residents (n = 557) was linked with census tract data, services available, alcohol outlets, and Walk Scores® (0-100 score indicating access to neighborhood resources) for 48 SLHs in 44 neighborhoods in Los Angeles County.

Results: Non-significant neighborhood characteristics in separate regressions for all outcomes were residents' ratings of perceived risk, percentage of residences with access to a car, percentage of homes over $500,000, percentage of renter-occupied units, percentage with income less than $25,000, percentage that were non-white, the density of substance inpatient within 10 miles, and transit scores from Walk Score®.

Measuring Architecture in Recovery Homes: Recovery Home Architecture Scale.

: The settings where we live shape our daily experiences and interactions. Social environment and physical setting characteristics may be particularly important in communal living services, such as recovery homes for alcohol and drug disorders. : This paper describes the measurement and mobilization of architectural characteristics in one type of recovery home, sober living houses (SLHs).

Examining perceived effects of same-sex marriage legalization among sexual minority women: Identifying demographic differences and factors related to alcohol use disorder, depression, and self-perceived health.

Background: Reductions in structural stigma, such as gaining access to legalized same-sex marriage, is associated with positive psychological and physical health outcomes among sexual minorities. However, these positive outcomes may be less robust among sexual minority women (SMW).

Methods: This study examined how perceptions of the impact of legalized same-sex marriage among SMW may 1) differ by demographic characteristics and 2) predict alcohol use disorder, depression, and self-perceived health.

Corrigendum to 'Impact of the policy environment on substance use among sexual minority women'.

[This corrects the article PMC9262325.].

Examining the differential protective effects of women's spirituality and religiosity on alcohol and marijuana use by sexual identity.

The current study explored how religiosity and spirituality may differentially influence substance use by sexual identity based on a sample of adult sexual minority women (SMW; n = 437 lesbian; n = 323 bisexual) relative to a heterosexual comparison sample (n = 636). We examined three questions: (1) whether was differentially associated with alcohol and marijuana use by sexual identity; (2) whether was differentially associated with alcohol and marijuana use by sexual identity; (3) whether observed differences between spirituality or religiosity and substance use by sexual identity persisted after adjusting for religious environment. Measures included spirituality (importance of spirituality), religiosity (importance of religion, attending religious services), and past year substance use (alcohol use disorder [AUD], any marijuana use, and regular marijuana use).

Comparing substance use outcomes by sexual identity among women: Differences using propensity score methods.

Background: Differences in alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use by sexual identity vary across samples of women recruited using different sampling methods. We used propensity score (PS) weighting methods to address two methodological questions: (1) Do disparities between sexual minority women (SMW) and heterosexual women persist when differences in risk and protective factors are similarly distributed between groups, and (2) Does accounting for SMW-specific resiliency factors impact differences between non-probability samples of SMW?

Methods: Four samples included SMW from a longitudinal study with a nonprobability sample (n = 373), a national general population panel sample (n = 373), and a national LGBTQ-specific panel sample (n = 311), as well as a national probability sample of heterosexual women (n = 446). Between-groups analyses using double-robust PS weighted models estimated differences in ATOD use under hypothetical conditions in which samples have similar risk and protective factors.

Impact of the policy environment on substance use among sexual minority women.

Background: Sexual minority women (SMW) are at greater risk for heavy episodic drinking, frequent marijuana use, and tobacco use than heterosexual women. Because past research has suggested the political and social environment may influence disparities in substance use by sexual orientation, this study examined associations of the U.S.

Challenges of virtual RDS for recruitment of sexual minority women for a behavioral health study.

Respondent driven sampling (RDS) is an approach commonly used to recruit nonprobability samples of rare and hard-to-find populations. The purpose of this study was to explore the utility of phone and web-based RDS methodology to sample sexual minority women (SMW) for participation in a telephone survey. Key features included 1) utilizing a national probability survey sample to select seeds; 2) web-based recruitment with emailed coupons; and 3) virtual processes for orienting, screening and scheduling potential participants for computer-assisted telephone interviews.

Substance use and misuse patterns and disability status in the 2020 US National Alcohol Survey: A contributing role for chronic pain.

Background: Evidence about substance use and misuse among adults with disabilities is still emerging, despite increased risk of chronic pain and mental health problems, which are in turn risk factors for substance use and misuse.

Objective: We examined substance use and misuse among adults with selected self-reported disability (versus without), controlling for sociodemographics, depression/anxiety, physical health, and chronic pain, and assessed whether associations could be attributed to chronic pain.

Methods: Data are from the nationally representative 2020 US National Alcohol Survey.

Identifying the availability of recovery housing in the U.S.: The NSTARR project.

Background: Home is essential to recovery, and recovery housing can play an important role for individuals seeking a supportive environment. The National Study of Treatment and Addiction Recovery Residences (NSTARR) Project constitutes the largest and most diverse study of recovery housing to date. We describe the development of a national sampling frame to study recovery housing, as well as findings on availability and distribution of recovery housing across the U.

Measuring the impact of legal recognition of same-sex marriage among sexual minority women.

Reductions in structural stigma, such as gaining access to legalized same-sex marriage, is associated with positive psychological and physical health outcomes among sexual minority adults. However, these positive outcomes may be less robust among sexual minority women (SMW; e.g.

The role of recovery housing during outpatient substance use treatment.

Background: Recovery housing generally refers to alcohol- and drug-free living environments that provide peer support for those wanting to initiate and sustain recovery from alcohol and other drug (AOD) disorders. Despite a growing evidence base for recovery housing, relatively little research has focused on how recovery housing may benefit individuals accessing outpatient substance use treatment.

Methods: Using administrative and qualitative data from individuals attending an outpatient substance use treatment program in the Midwestern United States that provides recovery housing in a structured sober living environment, this mixed methods study sought to: (1) determine whether individuals who opted to live in structured sober living during outpatient treatment (N = 138) differed from those who did not (N = 842) on demographic, clinical, or service use characteristics; (2) examine whether living in structured sober living was associated with greater likelihood of satisfactory discharge and longer lengths of stay in outpatient treatment; and (3) explore what individuals (N = 7) who used the structured sober living during outpatient treatment were hoping to gain from the experience.