The NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse has launched the “Mapping Patient Journeys in Drug Addiction Treatment” Challenge (submissions due September 22, 2021). NIDA challenges applicants to create a ‘journey map’ to show the good and bad experiences people with substance use disorder have when navigating the healthcare system to get treatment; an experience that’s often challenging, confusing, and inconsistent. Submissions will enable NIDA to focus research efforts into alleviating those areas of difficulty.
The Challenge offers up to three awards: $50,000 (1st place), $30,000 (2nd place), and $20,000 (3rd place). Anyone who has experience with a patient’s journey with substance use disorder is encouraged to participate. Knowledge and experience of the steps individuals take on the road from addiction to recovery is invaluable in solving this Challenge. Journey maps incorporate the physical and emotional journey with the aim of capturing patient obstacles, interactions, and movement through the health care system along with the patient behavior, feelings, motivations, and attitudes across the episodes of care. Learn more here or email NIDAChallenge@nih.gov.
