Can a participant‐referred 'study buddy' increase retention of rural people who use drugs in research? A multi‐site, randomized trial.
Aims: To test the efficacy of a participant‐referred "study buddy" intervention compared with standard retention strategies in retaining rural people who use drugs (PWUD) in longitudinal research. Design: Multi‐site, two‐arm, randomized controlled trial. Setting: Rural counties in Ohio, Oregon, and...
| Published in: | Addiction Vol. 121; no. 4; pp. 894 - 908 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | research tables/charts randomized controlled trial Journal Article |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
Apr2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=192342729&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 192342729 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 09652140 AIO jtl: Addiction issn: 09652140 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Apr2026 vid: 121 iid: 4 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell place: Malden, Massachusetts artinfo: ui: 192342729 189515181 192342729 192342729 10.1111/add.70250 192342729 ppf: 894 ppct: 14 formats: tig: atl: Can a participant‐referred 'study buddy' increase retention of rural people who use drugs in research? A multi‐site, randomized trial. aug: au: Young, April M. Lancaster, Kathryn E. Elman, Miriam R. Bielavitz, Sarann Cook, Ryan R. Estadt, Angela T. Enderle, Madison N. Freeman, Edward Lapidus, Jodi Korthuis, Philip T. affil: Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington KY,, USA sug: subj: Substance Abuse, Intravenous Therapy Persons with Substance Use Disorders Psychosocial Factors Rural Population Research Subject Retention Treatment Outcomes Human Male Female Adult Middle Age United States Randomized Controlled Trials Random Assignment Prospective Studies Peer Group Health Services Accessibility Methamphetamine Adverse Effects Heroin Adverse Effects Transportation Incarceration Logistic Regression Statistical Significance Data Analysis Software Descriptive Statistics Funding Source Adult: 19-44 years Middle Aged: 45-64 years Male Female ab: Aims: To test the efficacy of a participant‐referred "study buddy" intervention compared with standard retention strategies in retaining rural people who use drugs (PWUD) in longitudinal research. Design: Multi‐site, two‐arm, randomized controlled trial. Setting: Rural counties in Ohio, Oregon, and Kentucky, USA. Participants: People enrolled in the Peer‐based Retention Of people who Use Drugs in Rural Research (PROUD‐R2) study who were 18 years or older, resided in the study area, and used opioids or injected any drug to get high in the past 30 days between August 2020 and August 2022. Participants (n = 739) were 42% female, mostly White (89%) and non‐Hispanic (96%), unstably housed (57%), and reported lifetime injection drug use (93%). The most common drugs of choice were methamphetamine (42%) and heroin (38%). Intervention and Comparator: Participants were allocated (1:1, stratified by site), to: [1] standard retention approach involving appointment reminders and contact information updates by study staff (n = 365), or [2] the intervention arm, receiving the standard retention approach and asked to recruit a "study buddy" (n = 374). Study buddies were invited to view a training video and instructed to encourage their intervention participant to attend follow‐up appointments. Measurements Intervention, control, and study buddy participants completed interviewer‐administered surveys at baseline and at 6 and 12 months. Outcomes included retention at 12 months (primary) and 6 months (secondary). Findings Retention was 50.3% at 6 months and 46.1% at 12 months. Only 23.5% of intervention participants recruited a study buddy. In intent‐to‐treat analyses, the intervention did not increase retention at 12 (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.08, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.79–1.47) or 6 (AOR 0.96, 95% CI 0.69–1.34) months. Conclusions: Recruitment of self‐identified "study buddies" did not appear to statistically significantly improve retention of rural people who use drugs in this longitudinal study at 6‐ and 12‐month follow‐up relative to standard retention approaches. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts randomized controlled trial Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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