Educational Activities Archives

Throughout this webinar, attendees will be introduced to the foundational aspects of creating and sustaining productive community-based research partnerships. We will highlight successful case studies and models that demonstrate the practical application of these collaborations, showcasing how they can lead to the development of innovative, evidence-based treatment strategies specifically tailored for women. Key discussions will include case examples such as the integration of exercise and wellness programs and the enhancement of peer support efforts, illustrating the diverse ways in which partnerships can enrich treatment interventions. However, the primary focus will remain on the overarching strategies and principles that guide these successful collaborations. Designed for social workers, treatment professionals, researchers, and advocates, this webinar aims to equip participants with the knowledge and tools necessary to foster meaningful collaborations that can significantly impact women’s recovery journeys. Join us to learn how you can contribute to advancing women’s substance use disorder treatment through the power of community-based research partnerships.

Patients with substance use disorders are subject to the harmful stress of stigma impeding recovery, and providers can sometimes inadvertently add to this stress. Today, American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry has Dr. Alena Balasanova from the University of Nebraska Medical Center speaking with us about the stigma toward substance use in America and how we, the medical community, can mediate and change the culture one word at a time.

Escalation of perinatal opioid overdose and mortality has become a national public health concern. Prescription opioids are considered a gateway drug to misuse and dependency of other illicit drugs such as fentanyl and heroin. This study explored the 1) the pain-related experiences, 2) the social-ecological factors and experiences, and 3) the healthcare-related experiences of perinatal women who used or misused prescription opioids. The women’s shared experiences provided insights regarding how socio-ecologic and healthcare-related factors intersected with their pain experiences, which will be presented in three major themes of the study. This intersection was collectively identified as contributing to their initiation and perpetuation of misuse which hindered their journey to recovery and motherhood.

This presentation will explore data from the University of Vermont Center on Rural Addiction’s Baseline Needs Assessments in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, sharing insights gathered from practitioners and stakeholders about their concerns about opioid use and their perceived barriers to and beliefs about opioid use disorder treatment.

Prior neuroimaging studies have suggested that alterations in brain structure may be a consequence of cannabis use. Siblings discordant for cannabis use offer an opportunity to use cross-sectional data to disentangle such causal hypotheses from shared effects of genetics and familial environment on brain structure and cannabis use.