Preventing Overdose and Promoting Recovery Through Court Navigation
POPCORN
Hybrid Type I Trial of a Peer-Led Court Navigation Program to Improve Substance Use Disorder Treatment Receipt and Reduce Overdose and Incarceration Among People Passing Through Courthouses
1 other identifier
interventional
600
1 country
2
Brief Summary
This project is a hybrid type I clinical trial to assess the effectiveness and implementation determinants of a peer-led court navigation program for people who use drugs and are passing through county courthouses. Courthouses are a common point of contact for people with behavioral health needs, but outside of specialty court models, they remain underexplored as a setting for connecting people to substance use disorder treatment and related services. This study will test whether court navigation led by peer recovery specialists can increase receipt of substance use disorder treatment and reduce overdose and incarceration. Peer court navigators will meet with participants in courthouse settings, assess their needs, provide information and referrals, and offer follow-up support for up to 3 months. Peer recovery specialists, who have lived experience with substance use recovery, are increasingly being integrated into criminal legal and community-based settings; however, peer-led court navigation remains an innovative and understudied approach.
Trial Health
Trial Health Score
Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach
participants targeted
Target at P75+ for not_applicable
Started Oct 2026
Longer than P75 for not_applicable
2 active sites
Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.
Trial Relationships
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Study Timeline
Key milestones and dates
First Submitted
Initial submission to the registry
July 3, 2026
CompletedFirst Posted
Study publicly available on registry
July 14, 2026
CompletedStudy Start
First participant enrolled
October 1, 2026
ExpectedPrimary Completion
Last participant's last visit for primary outcome
December 1, 2028
Study Completion
Last participant's last visit for all outcomes
May 1, 2030
July 14, 2026
July 1, 2026
2.2 years
July 3, 2026
July 10, 2026
Conditions
Keywords
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcomes (1)
Administratively documented substance use disorder treatment engagement
This participant-level outcome will indicate whether a participant has any administratively documented substance use disorder treatment engagement within 90 days after baseline. Treatment engagement will be determined from linked state administrative records, including Medicaid claims for substance use disorder treatment services and prescription drug monitoring program records showing dispensed medications used to treat substance use disorder. For participants without administratively documented substance use disorder treatment during the 90 days before baseline, a qualifying post-baseline record will be classified as treatment initiation. For participants with administratively documented substance use disorder treatment during the 90 days before baseline, a qualifying post-baseline record will be classified as continued treatment engagement. The outcome will be reported as the proportion of participants in each study arm with administratively documented treatment engagement.
90 days after baseline
Secondary Outcomes (2)
Number of participants with a fatal or nonfatal overdose
12 months after baseline
Number of participants with a jail booking or prison entry
12 months after baseline
Study Arms (2)
Peer court navigation
EXPERIMENTALCourtConnect is the intervention. It connects individuals in courthouses with peer court navigators who provide information, referrals, and support to address substance use disorder treatment needs and related health and social needs. Navigation begins in the courthouse and continues in the community through follow-up support for up to 3 months.
Information only
ACTIVE COMPARATORParticipants assigned to the information-only group receive information about health and social services in the community from a non-peer research assistant. They do not receive peer court navigation or follow-up support from a peer court navigator.
Interventions
CourtConnect connects individuals in courthouses with peer court navigators who provide information, referrals, and support to address substance use disorder treatment needs and related health and social needs. Navigation begins in the courthouse and continues in the community through follow-up support for up to 3 months.
Participants assigned to the information-only group receive information about health and social services in the community from a non-peer research assistant. They do not receive peer court navigation or follow-up support from a peer court navigator.
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if:
- Aged 18 years or older
- Current resident of Indiana
- Able to complete study procedures in English
- Meets at least one of the following criteria: used heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine, or cocaine in the past 12 months; is interested in resources or treatment for a substance use disorder; or experienced an opioid-related overdose in the past 12 months
You may not qualify if:
- Has been sentenced to incarceration in jail or prison for the next 12 months
Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.
Sponsors & Collaborators
- RTI Internationallead
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)collaborator
Study Sites (2)
St. Joseph County Courthouse 1
South Bend, Indiana, 46601, United States
RTI International
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, 27709, United States
MeSH Terms
Conditions
Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)
Central Study Contacts
Study Design
- Study Type
- interventional
- Phase
- not applicable
- Allocation
- RANDOMIZED
- Masking
- NONE
- Purpose
- HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
- Intervention Model
- PARALLEL
- Sponsor Type
- OTHER
- Responsible Party
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
- PI Title
- Principal Investigator, Senior Research Public Health Analyst 1
Study Record Dates
First Submitted
July 3, 2026
First Posted
July 14, 2026
Study Start (Estimated)
October 1, 2026
Primary Completion (Estimated)
December 1, 2028
Study Completion (Estimated)
May 1, 2030
Last Updated
July 14, 2026
Record last verified: 2026-07
Data Sharing
- IPD Sharing
- Will share
- Shared Documents
- STUDY PROTOCOL, ANALYTIC CODE
- Time Frame
- IPD and additional supporting information will be archived in the National Addiction \& HIV Data Archive Program (NAHDAP), assigned persistent identifiers, and made available as soon as possible and no later than the earlier of the primary publication or the end of the performance period, whichever comes first.
- Access Criteria
- After project completion, only de-identified datasets will be made available as public-use files and deposited in repositories for broader research, teaching, replication. Shared data will be provided in open, non-proprietary formats, along with parallel Stata/R scripts and a README so that no specialized software is required to access or manipulate the data. Publicly shared datasets will receive a DOI to facilitate sharing, citation, and version control. Access will be controlled when there is any non-trivial re-identification risk or when required by data use agreements. In those cases, repositories will gate access under standard data use agreements that prohibit re-identification and onward sharing, require secure storage and destruction at project end, and log requestor credentials and approved uses. Raw state administrative source files received under data use agreements will not be shared; only de-identified, derived variables constructed from those sources will be deposited.
The investigators will enroll 600 subjects over 24 months with 12 months of follow-up data by linking administrative records (e.g., prescription fills, emergency department/emergency medical services encounters, mortality, arrests/jail bookings) to survey contents that will include demographics, substance use disorder and treatment history, criminal legal system involvement, social constructs (self-efficacy, motivation, stigma), and harmonized measures. The National Institutes of Health requires that the study team release study data. The investigators will preserve and share de-identified survey datasets (with codebooks), and project documentation (protocols, instruments); derived variables from linked administrative data will be shared, while raw state administrative source files obtained under data use agreements will not be shared. The publicly released scientific data will include only fully de-identified data.