Linkage facilitation services for OUD: Taxonomy of facilitation practitioners, goals, and activities

Summary

This article proposes a taxonomy of linkage facilitation services used to help persons with OUD access treatment and recovery resources. Linkage facilitation may be especially valuable for persons receiving MOUD given the considerable barriers to treatment access and initiation that have been identified. This article presents a taxonomy derived from expert consensus that organizes the array of practitioners, goals, and activities associated with linkage services for OUD and related needs. The derived taxonomy contains eight domains: facilitator identity, facilitator lived experience, linkage client, facilitator-client relationship, linkage activity, linkage method, linkage connectivity, and linkage goal. For each domain, the article defines basic domain categories, highlights research and practice themes in substance use and OUD care, and introduces innovations in linkage facilitation being tested in one of two NIDA-funded research networks: the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) or the Consortium on Addiction Recovery Science (CoARS). To accelerate consistent application of this taxonomy to diverse research and practice settings, the article concludes by naming several considerations for linkage facilitation workforce training and implementation.

Publication Year: 2023

Lead Author: Aaron Hogue

Journal: Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment

Publication Type(s): Review, Peer Services