Therapy dose mediates the relationship between buprenorphine/naloxone and opioid treatment outcomes in youth receiving medication for opioid use disorder treatment

This paper used data from the NIDA-CTN-0010 trial to evaluate the mediating effects of psychosocial treatment-related variables (therapy dose and therapeutic alliance) on end-of-treatment opioid abstinence in a sample of youth with Opioid Use Disorder. We found that participants in the Bup-Nal group attended more therapy sessions (16 vs 6 sessions), had increased therapeutic alliance at week-4, and had less opioid use by week-12 compared to those in the Detox group. In both treatment arms, youth who attended more therapy sessions were less likely to have a week-12 opioid positive urine. In a multiple mediator model, therapy dose mediated the association between treatment arm and opioid abstinence.

Recommended citation: Kady, A.,* Hammond, C. J.,* Park, G., Vidal, C., Wenzel, K., & Fishman, M. (2022). Therapy Dose Mediates the Relationship Between Buprenorphine/Naloxone and Opioid Treatment Outcomes in Youth Receiving Medication for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment. Journal of addiction medicine, 16(2), e97–e104. https://doi.org/10.1097/ADM.0000000000000861

*equally contributing first authors