NIH announces awards for behavioral research on OUD prevention and treatment

NCCIH and the NIH HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Initiative are funding six research projects to study the impact of behavioral interventions in the prevention and treatment of opioid use disorder. Several of these studies focus on mind and body practices.

For example, a study at the University of Washington is testing whether a mind and body intervention called Mindful Awareness in Body-oriented Therapy is helpful as an adjunct to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder in two clinical settings.

Another project, based at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, is testing a yoga-based mindfulness relapse prevention program called Mindful Moms in Recovery for pregnant women who are on MAT for opioid use disorder.

And a third project, at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences–Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, is studying the effectiveness of an intervention called Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement as an adjunct to MAT in patients who have both opioid use disorder and chronic pain.