NCT05388812

Together in Recovery With Veterans Through Employment

Individual Placement and Support for Veterans With Opioid Use Disorder: A Mixed Methods Study

• Status: Active Not Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 123 (actual)
• Sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development · Federal
• Sex: All
• Age: 19 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to help Veterans who have opioid use problems with gaining and maintaining meaningful employment. The investigators also want to know employment helps with other aspects of the Veteran's life including starting and staying on necessary medications, mental health needs, and feeling a part of society.

Detailed description

The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the employment outcomes of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) compared to Treatment-as-Usual Vocational Rehabilitation (TAU-VR) in 120 Veterans who are recovering from opioid use disorder (OUD) over 15 months. Specifically, the investigators will see which treatment yields more weeks worked in a competitive job with the hypothesis that IPS will result in better outcomes than TAU-VR. The investigators will interview Veterans in both IPS and TAU-VR groups to investigate the contextual barriers and facilitators of implementing vocational services among Veterans with OUD with the aim to provide solutions and leverage facilitators of success as the VHA expands supported employment services to a new priority population. Investigators will evaluate the impact of vocational services on adherence to prescribed treatment and OUD relapse rates. This study is especially timely given the societal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employment and occupational functioning.

Conditions

• Veterans With Opioid Use Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Treatment As Usual Vocational Rehabilitation (TAU-VR)	TAU-VR Services may include 1) Compensated Work Therapy-Transitional Work (CWT-TW) assignment in a set-aside, minimum-wage, short-term job, typically in the VA setting (approximately 50% of the Veterans randomized to TW in past studies conducted by the investigators actually engaged in TW assignment) or 2) CWT-Community-Based Employment Services (CWT-CBES) which involves a community job search, placement in a competitive job, with limited follow-along support that typically ends after the Veteran is working in his/her first job
OTHER	Individual Placement and Support (IPS)	The IPS model involves the following important domains: competitive employment, eligibility based on client choice of employment, integration of IPS and treatment team personalized counseling, rapid job search, systematic job development, and time-unlimited and individualized support.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-12-16
• Primary completion: 2027-08-30
• Completion: 2027-09-30
• First posted: 2022-05-24
• Last updated: 2026-03-19

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: United States