Our first CHaRRM-CN article has been published online! This article is a content analysis of perceptions of combined pharmacobehavioral treatment for American Indian people with opioid use disorder (OUD).
You can read the article here: https://depts.washington.edu/harrtlab/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Nelson-et-al-2025.pdf
The primary outcomes from our Harm Reduction Talking Circles (HaRTC) study have been published in the Journal of Community Psychology! You can read the full article here: https://depts.washington.edu/harrtlab/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Nelson-et-al-2024-hartc.pdf
In summary:
“Although the single‐arm study design precludes causal inferences, participants evinced statistically significant decreases in days of alcohol use and alcohol‐related harm over the three timepoints. Additionally, both sense of spirituality, which is a factor of cultural connectedness, and health‐related quality of life increased over time as a function of the number of HaRTC sessions attended. Virtual HaRTC shows initial feasibility and acceptability as a culturally aligned intervention for AI/AN people with AUD. Future randomized controlled trials will provide a test of the efficacy of this approach.”
Drs. Collins and Clifasefi have released a book that goes over the history of harm reduction, empirical evidence for harm reduction treatment (HaRT), and provides practitioners with the tools to integrate harm reduction in daily practice. Input from community members is included and we would like to thank them for their valuable contribution to both this book and the work we do every day.
The authors are donating royalties to community-led harm-reduction organizations. You can find the link to purchase below, thank you for the support!
https://www.hogrefe.com/us/shop/harm-reduction-approaches-93326.html
Our latest article written with our students in the Psych 499 class has been published in the journal Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. This article looks at the efficacy of harm reduction goal-setting from both our HaRT-A and HaRP studies.
Click here to read the article: Dual Study Describing Patient-Driven Harm Reduction Goal-Setting Among People Experiencing Homelessness and Alcohol Use Disorder
So proud our HaRRT Center research team + community partners + community members brought alcohol harm reduction to the Lancet Psychiatry! The short story: People with alcohol use disorder don’t have to stop drinking to start recovery. The long story: We didn’t ask participants — 96% of whom were physically dependent on alcohol–to stop or reduce their drinking. Instead, we supported whatever they wanted to see happen for themselves, talked about staying safer and healthier when drinking, and provided anticraving meds. What happened? They loved coming back to talk to Nigel Mayberry and Naomi True, and they reduced their alcohol use by 43%, reduced their alcohol-related harm by 59% and improved their physical health by 10%. Bottom line: let your patients lead the way to recovery!
You can read a press release about the article here.
You can read the advanced online publication here.
© 2021, American Psychological Association. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the final, authoritative version of the article. Please do not copy or cite without authors’ permission. The final article will be available, upon publication, via its DOI: 10.1037/pha0000470
The HaRRT Center is proud to share this study by Center Co-Directors, Seema Clifasefi and Susan Collins, and the LEAP Advisory Board with you. This research suggests that ensuring that participants have access to activities that are meaningful to them and opportunities for leadership can help to decrease alcohol-related harm within a Housing First setting.
Our 2-arm, 6-month, nonrandomized controlled pilot trial tested the Life Enhancing Alcohol-management Program (LEAP), which entails resident-driven leadership opportunities, meaningful activities, and pathways to recovery aimed at reducing alcohol-related harm and improving quality of life, as an adjunct to Housing First.
We found that the LEAP was associated with increased engagement in meaningful activities, and greater involvement in the LEAP programming was associated with reduced alcohol use and alcohol-related harm.
Read the article here.
Just published this week! Our Harm Reduction Treatment for Alcohol (HaRT-A) study is the first randomized controlled trial of a harm-reduction treatment for alcohol use disorder. Spoiler alert: Harm reduction works!
Click here to read the article
The Seattle Times wrote an article on our study! Click here to read the article.
Our article from Phase I of the Harm Reduction Treatment for Smoking (HaRT-S) study that we co-wrote with our UW undergraduate class has been published in the International Journal of Drug Policy! If you click on this link you can access the article free for the next two months.
If you are a UW student and want to learn more about our PSYCH/PBSCI 499 research course click here.