Reducing perceived barriers to scaling up overdose education and naloxone distribution and medications for opioid use disorder in the United States in the HEALing (Helping End Addiction Long-Term®) communities study.

Background: Scaling up overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) and medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) is needed to reduce opioid overdose deaths, but barriers are pervasive. This study examines whether the Communities That HEAL (CTH) intervention reduced perceived barriers to expanding OEND and MOUD in healthcare/behavioral health, criminal-legal, and other/non-traditional venues.

Methods: The HEALing (Helping End Addiction Long-Term®) Communities Study is a parallel, wait-list, cluster randomized trial testing the CTH intervention in 67 communities in the United States.

Problems with evidence assessment in COVID-19 health policy impact evaluation: a systematic review of study design and evidence strength.

Introduction: Assessing the impact of COVID-19 policy is critical for informing future policies. However, there are concerns about the overall strength of COVID-19 impact evaluation studies given the circumstances for evaluation and concerns about the publication environment.

Methods: We included studies that were primarily designed to estimate the quantitative impact of one or more implemented COVID-19 policies on direct SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 outcomes.

Problems with Evidence Assessment in COVID-19 Health Policy Impact Evaluation: A systematic review of study design and evidence strength.

Introduction: Assessing the impact of COVID-19 policy is critical for informing future policies. However, there are concerns about the overall strength of COVID-19 impact evaluation studies given the circumstances for evaluation and concerns about the publication environment. This study systematically reviewed the strength of evidence in the published COVID-19 policy impact evaluation literature.

Ecological Momentary Assessment of Illicit Drug Use Compared to Biological and Self-Reported Methods.

Background: The use of mHealth methods for capturing illicit drug use and associated behaviors have become more widely used in research settings, yet there is little research as to how valid these methods are compared to known measures of capturing and quantifying drug use.

Objective: We examined the concordance of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) of drug use to previously validated biological and audio-computer assisted self-interview (ACASI) methods.

Methods: The Exposure Assessment in Current Time (EXACT) study utilized EMA methods to assess drug use in real-time in participants' natural environments.

Uptake and Acceptability of Information and Communication Technology in a Community-Based Cohort of People Who Inject Drugs: Implications for Mobile Health Interventions.

Background: Mobile phone and Internet-based technologies are increasingly used to disseminate health information and facilitate delivery of medical care. While these strategies hold promise for reducing barriers to care for medically-underserved populations, their acceptability among marginalized populations such as people who inject drugs is not well-understood.

Objective: To understand patterns of mobile phone ownership, Internet use and willingness to receive health information via mobile devices among people who inject drugs.

Utilizing mHealth methods to identify patterns of high risk illicit drug use.

Introduction: We assessed patterns of illicit drug use using mobile health (mHealth) methods and subsequent health care indicators among drug users in Baltimore, MD.

Methods: Participants of the EXposure Assessment in Current Time (EXACT) study were provided a mobile device for assessment of their daily drug use (heroin, cocaine or both), mood and social context for 30 days from November 2008 through May 2013. Real-time, self-reported drug use events were summed for individuals by day.

Capturing illicit drug use where and when it happens: an ecological momentary assessment of the social, physical and activity environment of using versus craving illicit drugs.

Aims: To understand the environmental and contextual influences of illicit cocaine and heroin use and craving using mobile health (mHealth) methods.

Design: Interactive mHealth methods of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) were utilized in the Exposure Assessment in Current Time (EXACT) study to assess drug use and craving among urban drug users in real time. Participants were provided with mobile devices and asked to self-report every time they either craved (without using) or used heroin or cocaine for 30 days from November 2008 through May 2013.

The exposure assessment in current time study: implementation, feasibility, and acceptability of real-time data collection in a community cohort of illicit drug users.

Objective. We describe the study design and evaluate the implementation, feasibility, and acceptability of an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study of illicit drug users. Design.

Sources of personal income and HIV risk among sexually active women.

We examined the relationship between sources of income and sex behaviors among a sample of low-income, sexually active women in Baltimore, MD (n = 517). Data were collected through interviews administered by a trained interviewer and audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI). The study assessed four categories of income: government payments, money from other people, selling items, and irregular jobs (i.

Relative time to pregnancy among HIV-infected and uninfected women in the Women's Interagency HIV Study, 2002-2009.

Objectives: To determine the incidence rate of, and the relative time to pregnancy by HIV status in US women between 2002 and 2009.

Design: The Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) is an ongoing, multicenter prospective cohort study of the natural and treated history of HIV infection and related outcomes among women with and without HIV.

Methods: Eligible participants were 45 years of age or less; sexually active with male partner(s) or reported a pregnancy outcome within the past year; and never reported hysterectomy, tubal ligation, or oopherectomy.