# Expanding the Youth Opioid Recovery Support (YORS) Intervention for MOUD adherence to adolescents with OUD

> **NIH NIH R34** · MARYLAND TREATMENT CENTERS, INC. · 2024 · $576,675

## Abstract

Project Summary Abstract
Adolescents with OUD are a critical but underserved population. Despite rising rates of fatal opioid overdoses
in the United States, adolescents with OUD are far less likely than adults to receive and be retained on
medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Estimates of timely MOUD initiation among adolescents with OUD
are ≤ 5% and only a quarter of residential addiction treatment facilities for adolescents even offer
buprenorphine. Among the few adolescents with OUD who do receive MOUD, adherence is alarmingly low.
The multicomponent Youth Opioid Recovery Support (YORS) intervention for young adults seeks to increase
adherence to extended-release MOUD and reduce opioid relapse through family involvement, assertive
outreach, low-barrier access to MOUD, and contingency management. This project will expand the
investigation of the YORS intervention, with demonstrated efficacy in young adults, to the critical underserved
population of adolescents with OUD. Adolescents are theoretically even more likely than young adults to
respond to YORS components such as family involvement, persuasion, and leverage because of their
developmentally normative greater reliance on parental guidance and influence. Through this project we also
will expand the YORS intervention to include adolescents with Spanish-speaking family members and
adolescents choosing sublingual buprenorphine, which are adaptations responsive to our local clinical
experience and national trends.
To achieve these aims, we will test the feasibility and pilot impact of YORS for N=40 adolescents and their
family members in an uncontrolled, single arm clinical trial in preparation for a future larger scale randomized
controlled trial. Second, we plan to adapt the YORS intervention to address health disparities in our
community. Specifically, we will adapt YORS and its materials for Spanish speakers, given our recent
experience in usual clinical care, which has experienced an influx of Spanish speaking adolescents using
smoked fentanyl as pressed “Percocet” pills. Third, because the preferred MOUD for adolescents in our clinical
experience has been daily sublingual buprenorphine (rather than XR-MOUD), we will adapt YORS for
sublingual buprenorphine. Finally, we will also conduct qualitative interviews to better understand the
experience of adolescents with OUD and their families.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11055197
- **Project number:** 1R34DA062260-01
- **Recipient organization:** MARYLAND TREATMENT CENTERS, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** MARC FISHMAN
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $576,675
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-30 → 2027-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11055197

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11055197, Expanding the Youth Opioid Recovery Support (YORS) Intervention for MOUD adherence to adolescents with OUD (1R34DA062260-01). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/11055197. Licensed CC0.

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