Center Initiatives & Programs

Current Projects

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Collaborative Quality Improvement (CoQI)

The Youth and Family Interview Team (YaFIT) supports Collaborative Quality Improvement (CoQI) efforts at the NJ Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCP&P). Interviews with youth and family members are conducted with the goal of elevating family voice. Youth and families who are connected with DCP&P will be invited to participate in an interview about their experience. Interview findings will help identify strengths and areas of improvement within DCP&P.

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Testing the Effects of an Integrated SUD Training Program (ISTP) in Underserved Communities

The evaluation of the Integrated SUD Training Program will investigate whether the training program changes healthcare utilization and outcomes in the clinical sites and local communities. Multiple and mixed methods will be used to analyze primary data from surveys and focus groups with varied stakeholders and secondary data from electronic medical records (EMR) and community health measures.

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Evaluation of the Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) for High Risk Men of New Jersey

The evaluation of the Minority AIDS Initiative will examine whether the initiative improves service coordination for infectious diseases, co-occurring psychiatric disorders, and recovery coaching among African American and Hispanic men in treatment for substance use. The evaluators will investigate program and client factors that predict performance and treatment outcomes.

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New Jersey Opioid Overdose Recovery Program

The Center for Prevention Science was tasked with creating the data collection instruments, collecting and managing the data, generating quarterly and annual reports, and orienting newer providers to all relevant OORP material and procedures. The OORP team reports to DMHAS on various topics including but not limited to: meetings and state activities, evaluation activities and accomplishments, data collection/management, analysis of survey data, focus groups and key informant interviews.

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Partnerships for Success

Further increasing the capacity and synergy of New Jersey’s substance misuse prevention community, New Jersey’s Division for Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) was granted a Partnerships for Success (PFS) grant in late 2013 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (SAMHSA CSAP), which is being largely implemented by the Rutgers PFS team and the 17 regional coalitions.

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Promising Path to Success 2.0

The Center for Prevention Science was contracted by the Department of Children and Families to evaluate the state-wide Promising Path to Success 2.0 Initiative, including the effectiveness of the Six Core Strategies and the Nurtured Heart Approach as they are integrated across the Children's System of Care.

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Prevention Technology Transfer Center

The Northeast and Caribbean PTTC team provides capacity building and development services to the prevention workforces in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands through technology transfer activities, including the delivery of multifaceted, culturally informed training, technical assistance, and research to improve knowledge and skills based on prevention science and evidence-based prevention practices. The Northeast & Caribbean PTTC strives to foster empowerment within the prevention community.

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Regional Coalition

This initiative of DMHAS further develops and supports New Jersey's data-driven alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) prevention infrastructure. As a result of the work of the DMHAS Prevention Strategic Planning committee, the prevention priorities for New Jersey were refined to include a focus on reduced underage drinking, reduced use of illegal substances, with a special focus on the use of opioids among young adults, reduced prescription medication misuse across the lifespan, and reduced use of new and emerging misused drugs.

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Strategic Prevention Framework for Prescription Drug Misuse

In 2016, NJ DMHAS was awarded the Strategic Prevention Framework for Prescription Drug Misuse (SPF-Rx) state grant from SAMHSA. The NJ SPF-Rx initiative expands interagency sharing of the state’s prescription drug monitoring program data and gives DMHAS the capability to use data analytics to identify prescribers, prescriber groups, and patients at high risk for inappropriate prescribing and nonmedical use of opioid drugs.

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The Substance Use Research, Evaluation, and Maternal and Child Health (SURE MatCH) Group

The SURE MatCH Group is a research lab directed by Dr. Qiana L. Brown. Dr. Brown established this lab on October 1st, 2018 at the Rutgers University School of Social Work’s Center for Prevention Science. The SURE MatCH Group conducts research and program and policy evaluation at the intersection of substance use and maternal and child health.

Past Projects

Please review the projects below to learn more about our past projects.

Project Background:
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) uses strategic initiatives to achieve its mission of reducing the impact of mental illness and substance misuse on individuals and communities. The Targeted Capacity Expansion: Medication Assisted Treatment Prescription Drug and Opioid Addiction (MAT-PDOA) program supports two of these initiatives, the Strategic Initiative on Prevention of Substance Abuse and Mental Illness and the Recovery Support Strategic Initiative. The New Jersey Division of Mental Health (DMHAS), as the Single State Agency (SSA) for substance use, was awarded a grant to implement MAT-PDOA as the Medication-Assisted Treatment Outreach Program (MATOP) in three communities in New Jersey. DMHAS seeks to expand access to medication-assisted treatment by providing funding for treatment for people who would not be able to access it otherwise, and educating the public, healthcare providers, and the community about medication-assisted treatment.

Evaluation Activities:
The Center for Prevention Science was charged with the creation and selection of data collection materials, collection and management of data, and generation of monthly, quarterly, biannual and annual project reports. The evaluation team at Rutgers partners with DMHAS, and project-affiliated opioid treatment providers to carry out these activities. Activities and project outcomes reported on will include but are not limited to: outreach activities, data collection activities, participant demographics, and participant quality of life.
The federally funded Prevent Prescription Drug/Opioid Overdose-related Deaths (PDO) Initiative in New Jersey

A collaboration among New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), Rutgers Center for Prevention Science, School of Social Work, and other partners including the Rutgers Division of Addiction Psychiatry and NJ State Police, the Prevent Prescription Drug/Opioid Overdose-related Deaths (PDO) Initiative was awarded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to address the consequences of the increasing rates of opioid misuse. Utilizing real-time data to identify high need communities in New Jersey, the PDO initiative implements multi-strategy prevention interventions including community education to first responders, organizations, and community members; prescriber training using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for prescribing for chronic pain; and expanded distribution of naloxone into high need communities throughout the state.

Dr. Kristen Gilmore Powell, associate director of the Rutgers School of Social Work's Center for Prevention Science (CPS), is the principal investigator of the sub-contract with DMHAS, along with Dr. Andrew Peterson, co-principal investigator. Dr. Powell and her team from CPS will engage in a comprehensive evaluation of this statewide project.
In 2017, the New Jersey Department of Human Services, Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) was awarded a State Targeted Response to the Opioid Crisis (Opioid STR) grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). New Jersey implemented the grant as the State Targeted Opioid Response Initiative (STORI), which aims to address the growing nationwide opioid crisis by increasing access to treatment, reducing unmet treatment need, and reducing opioid overdose related deaths through the provision of prevention, treatment, and recovery activities for opioid use disorder (OUD). Programs supported by the STORI include:
- STORI fee-for-service treatment network that provides additional funding for opioid use disorder treatment
- Opioid Overdose Recovery Program (OORP), which provides recovery support and treatment linkages for individuals reversed from an opioid overdose
- Support Team for Addiction Recovery (STAR), a program delivered by a community-based group of case managers and recovery specialists which provide case management and recovery support to individuals with opioid use disorder
- Telephone Recovery Support (TRS), a peer-delivered statewide telephone recovery support service
- Family Support Centers (FSCs) to support family members of individuals with opioid use disorder
- Naloxone reversal information packets and naloxone training and distribution
- Trainings for health care practitioners on best practices for prescribing opioids, non-opioid management of pain, and recognizing addiction in primary care and pain management patients
- Trainings to expand the use of medication-assisted treatment in primary care and behavioral health care
The Center for Prevention Science is conducting the overall evaluation of the STORI, and is assisting DMHAS with SAMHSA-required data collection and performance measurement.