Funded Projects

OUD Treatment Referral for Utah Adolescents

Project Year

2022

City & State

Salt Lake City, Utah

Program Name

CATCH Resident

Topic

Substance Use (LHI)

Program Description

Problem: In the state of Utah, adolescents with opioid use disorder (OUD) are struggling to access addiction treatment services. Primary setting: For our project, the primary setting will be high schools and pediatric clinics in three different Utah counties: Salt Lake County, which is majority urban and suburban; Carbon County, which has the highest prevalence of adult opioid use in the state; and Iron County, which is rural (19, 27). We are targeting three different counties to see if the barriers to accessing treatment differ between rural and urban. Furthermore, if one county appears to have significantly more barriers, we can focus our interventions and future projects there. Number of children affected: It is estimated that between 0.9 to 1.9 percent of Utah adolescents aged 12 to 17 years old have used opioids in their lifetime (22, 27, 28). The prevalence of OUD among Utah adolescents is not well defined, but national studies put this figure around 0.7 percent (13). Of 16- and 17-year-olds with OUD, only about 4 to 14 percent are provided with the recommended treatment of MAT, and an undefined but likely inadequate number of adolescents are referred to treatment of any kind (3). Based on this data, possibly hundreds of adolescents in Utah are not receiving necessary OUD treatment (23, 28). Project Goal: Identify the barriers that prevent Utah adolescents from receiving treatment for OUD, and educate parents, teachers, and primary care providers on how to connect adolescents to effective opioid use disorder treatment. Proposed interventions: We plan to conduct a needs assessment to identify the barriers preventing Utah adolescents from accessing OUD treatment. The needs assessment will survey parents, teachers, school administrators, and primary care providers of high school students. The surveys will ask them their understanding of opioid use among high school students and resources available to students struggling with opioid use. They will also be asked what barriers they believe prevent adolescents from receiving OUD treatment when needed. We will then analyze the data we collected, which will include an analysis of the gaps in treatment for OUD and barriers to accessing this treatment. Based on our analysis of this needs assessment data, we will provide education and resources on OUD treatment for parents, teachers, and primary care providers of high school students. Anticipated outcomes: We expect that the needs assessment will show that options currently available in Utah for treatment of OUD in adolescents are insufficient compared to the estimated need. Further, we hypothesize that parents, teachers, school administrators, and primary care providers of high school students are underutilizing treatment options currently available. We expect this to be especially true of MAT, which the AAP recommends as first line in treatment (2). We anticipate that by collecting and utilizing this data as proposed that more Utah youths with OUD will be directed to appropriate treatment than are currently.

Project Goal

Identify the barriers that prevent Utah adolescents from receiving treatment for OUD. Educate parents, teachers, school administrators, and primary care providers on how to connect adolescents to OUD treatment when needed.

Project Objective 1

Complete OUD needs assessment which will consist of 100 parent surveys, 50 school personnel surveys, and 25 primary care provider surveys. The needs assessment will also include three parent interviews, three school personnel interviews, and three pediatrician interviews. Complete this by October 1, 2022.

Project Objective 2

Analyze the needs assessment data. Based on these results, determine what resources and information the community needs regarding opioid use disorder and its treatment. Complete analysis by December 1, 2022.

Project Objective 3

Use the needs assessment data to create a referral list for OUD treatment options for adolescents in the communities surveyed and throughout the state of Utah. Provide this education to parents, high schools, and primary care clinics.

AAP District

District VIII

Institutional Name

University of Utah/Primary Children's Hospital

Contact 1

Amanda McLearn-Montz

Contact 2

Spencer Merrick