Research Priorities Generated by the JEAP Initiative Community Boards

Research Priorities Generated
by the JEAP Initiative Community Boards

About the JEAP Initiative

The Initiative for Justice and Emerging Adult Populations (JEAP Initiative) is a project funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R24DA051950). We aim to advance research on the effectiveness of peer recovery supports and recovery residences for emerging adults and justice-involved adults with substance use disorder.

Developing Research Priorities

Three Community Boards, comprised of individuals with lived experience and service providers and payors, guide the work of the JEAP Initiative.

Using Community-Based Participatory Research methods, the JEAP team and the Community Boards engaged in a collaborative process over several months to develop these research priorities. This process included each Community Board generating ideas based on their lived experience and professional experience, Community Board members ranking ideas in level of priority, the JEAP research team combining the prioritized ideas across the three Community Boards, and Community Board members further fine-tuning the problem statements and research questions. Check out our toolkit describing this process here.

These research priorities come directly from Community Board members’ ideas and reflect their collective expertise, which comes from both their lived experience and professional experience.

How to Use these Research Priorities

These research priorities provide a foundation for researchers to develop new or expand ongoing research projects. Each button below represents a category that JEAP Initiative Community Boards determined to be in need of further investigation. The buttons include key words and (if you hover over one) problem statements describing the category further.

If you click the Read More button, you will be taken to a page listing a detailed problem statement and testable research questions derived from Community Board efforts. As many of these questions cross topics, some are repeated in multiple categories. The JEAP Initiative hopes to stimulate new research in these areas, improving understanding and, ultimately, policies and practices.

As new research comes online, we hope to include links to this work and increase the usefulness of this tool. Toward this end, if you are building on these research priorities, please let us know of your efforts, how we might help, and any improvements we can make.

Click here to view an infographic overview of the research priorities

Recovery Journey

Recovery is multi-faceted, so services and measures of success need to extend beyond abstinence or recidivism.

Service Combinations

The best combination and sequence of services to support recovery, and how to match and provide access to individuals, have yet to be determined.

Mental Health

The existing service system is not well equipped to address co-occurring mental health and substance use challenges.

Underserved Communities

Recovery support services may not address the needs of individuals from marginalized communities because of barriers to access and lack of representation.

Social Support

Social support networks can heavily impact the recovery journey.

Emerging Adult Culture

The dominant culture glorifies emerging adult substance use and makes it challenging for this population to talk about substance use issues or recovery.

Trauma-Informed

Trauma-informed care within recovery support services is important.

Recovery Housing

The elements of recovery housing that make it most effective are under-researched – including internal operations, accessibility, connection with other services, and environment.

Peer Support

The role and qualifications for peer support specialists vary widely and best practices have yet to be determined.

Reentry Services

Additional support services are needed at the critical time of community reentry from incarceration.

MOUD/MAT Stigma

People who use MOUD/MAT confront stigma in different contexts.

Non-Opioid Use

Research and services for those with non-opioid substance use issues have been de-emphasized.

Download Full List of Priorities

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Contact Us

Let us know if you have any questions about this resource or are working on a study that relates to one of these topics - we'd love to hear about it!