Publications by authors named "Sarann Bielavitz"

Article Synopsis
  • Voter initiatives in Oregon and Colorado allow for psilocybin services but lack safety and outcome monitoring systems.
  • A study aimed to create best practice measures for these services, involving 36 experts in the psilocybin field through a multi-phase e-Delphi process.
  • The experts identified and prioritized 11 process measures, 11 outcome measures, and 17 structure measures that could help ensure safety, quality, and effectiveness in psilocybin service delivery.
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Introduction: Rural communities bear a disproportionate share of the opioid and methamphetamine use disorder epidemics. Yet, rural people who use drugs (PWUD) are rarely included in trials testing new drug use prevention and treatment strategies. Numerous barriers impede rural PWUD trial engagement and advancing research methods to better retain rural PWUD in clinical trials is needed.

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Background And Aim: Opioid agonist medications for treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) can improve human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) outcomes and reduce opioid use. We tested whether outpatient antagonist treatment with naltrexone could achieve similar results.

Design: Open-label, non-inferiority randomized trial.

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Background: Despite high morbidity and mortality among people who use drugs (PWUD) in rural America, most research is conducted within urban areas. Our objective was to describe influencing factors, motivations, and barriers to research participation and retention among rural PWUD.

Methods: We recruited 255 eligible participants from community outreach and community-based, epidemiologic research cohorts from April to July 2019 to participate in a cross-sectional survey.

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Background: UNAIDS recommends integrating methadone or buprenorphine treatment of opioid use disorder with HIV care to improve HIV outcomes, but buprenorphine adoption remains limited in many countries. We aimed to assess whether HIV clinic-based buprenorphine plus naloxone treatment for opioid use disorder was non-inferior to referral for methadone maintenance therapy in achieving HIV viral suppression in Vietnam.

Methods: In an open-label, non-inferiority trial (BRAVO), we randomly assigned people with HIV and opioid use disorder (1:1) by computer-generated random number sequence, in blocks of ten and stratified by site, to receive HIV clinic-based buprenorphine plus naloxone treatment or referral for methadone maintenance therapy in six HIV clinics in Vietnam.

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People with serious mental illnesses are increasingly becoming more active participants in their treatment and recovery. At times, their participation may be limited by incomplete, unclear, or insufficient information. The authors used a grounded theory approach to look at the unmet informational needs described by consumers.

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To assess the readiness of mental health facilities in Oregon to implement medication algorithms using the Medication Management Approaches in Psychiatry toolkit (MedMAP) developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), researchers conducted interviews with 68 clinical and administrative employees of four inpatient and four outpatient mental health facilities in Oregon. Respondents had generally positive opinions about the algorithms, but they also expressed many concerns about logistics and implementation, chiefly related to medication selection and expected restrictions on choices for prescribing providers and patients. In implementing medication algorithms, it may be beneficial to assess staff perspectives as well as the capabilities of the program's infrastructure.

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This paper describes how a sample of inpatient and out-patient psychiatric treatment units use technology to aid in patient care through scheduling, tracking, billing, and documenting clinical services. We conducted semi-structured interviews (n = 68) at four inpatient and four outpatient psychiatric facilities in Oregon. Results indicate psychiatric facilities are assembling systems for managing information that include a combination of electronic linked clinical records, paper records, and unit-specific, unlinked databases.

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The Oregon Practice Improvement Collaborative provided resources and technical assistance to help five Oregon drug treatment agencies adopt computer-based technology of their choice to support client progress in treatment. This manuscript describes agency processes related to that adoption of technology. Agencies chose computer programs to improve clinical outcomes, reduce staff burden, and respond to external pressures.

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