Wake Forest IMPOWR Dissemination Education and Coordination Center (IDEA-CC)

People with chronic pain (CP) and opioid use disorder (OUD) experience siloed clinical pathways that undermine treatment for both conditions. Recognizing that clinical and research separate CP and OUD leaves patients at risk for undertreated pain and detrimental OUD outcomes, NIH NIDA and the HEAL Initiative are focused on developing integrated assessment and treatment pathways. In order to effectively encompass the pragmatic clinical initiatives developing though the IMPOWR program, this proposal answers the call for a CP and OUD focused dissemination and coordination center. The IMPOWR Dissemination, Education, and Coordination Center (IDEA-CC) will develop a CP and OUD focused infrastructure support to amplify, and create momentum for the findings of IMPOWR and other linked research networks. Building on existing work, our proposal will develop the infrastructure for the IMPOWR network through several key domains: 1) rapidly deploy a communication framework to link IMPOWR clinical sites with each other and the larger HEAL research framework; 2) develop an educational infrastructure addressing stigma and health disparities in patients with co-morbid CP and OUD; and 3) effectively disseminate research findings to targeted audiences. The rationale for the proposed research is that understanding the relationship between co-morbid CP and OUD is critical to designing the most effective interventions. The objective of the IDEA-CC is to create a research community that connects IMPOWR centers to translate findings and develop a key CP-OUD research and education infrastructure. Our central hypothesis is that improving co-morbid CP and OUD treatment will involve integrated clinical approaches, and a fundamental shift in how we educate healthcare providers and the community. We will achieve this through several aims. Aim 1: Harmonize processes for data collection and common data elements of CP and OUD measures across the IMPOWR research center, providing a coordinated platform for gathering data from these studies. Aim 2: Bidirectionally disseminate information regarding network research and data sharing opportunities to the larger scientific community and community partners in the fields of pain, addiction, and mental health. Aim 3: Support IMPOWR network development and the validation of key instruments/measures of composite CP and OUD measures. Aim 4: Develop an educational infrastructure that addresses stigma and health disparities for co-morbid CP and OUD. This work is innovative because of the ability to design measures supported by PROMIS expertise and map validated data to larger research frameworks. The Wake Forest IDEA-CC will create a shared research platform to amplify and accelerate investigations at the interface of CP and OUD. This research will support NIH NIDA's goal to enhance the clinical impact of existing treatments at the critical intersection of OUD and CP conditions, while actively working to destigmatize treatment in a way that promotes health equity.