Background:

The NC STAR Network is a statewide partnership among the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Mountain Area Health Education Center, and East Carolina University designed to expand access to addiction treatment across North Carolina. The network builds capacity among community-based partner sites through training, technical assistance, and dissemination of best practices, leveraging the expertise and relationships of the three academic centers and their local partners. As the NC STAR Network has expanded to include numerous sites and partners across the state, there is a need to strengthen the infrastructure for understanding and evaluating the network’s activities, implementation, and outcomes. The HILS Lab is partnering with the NC STAR Network to support this work and establish a foundation for rigorous, sustainable evaluation of the network model.

Aims:

• Operationalize the NC STAR Network model to lay the groundwork for rigorous evaluation and a blueprint for implementation

• Identify programmatic data collection objectives and assess the network’s current needs and resources

• Develop protocols for process and outcome evaluation

Principal Investigator:

Tonya Van Deinse

Co-investigators, research associates, program staff:

Julia Metz

Research Assistants:

Caroline Harris, Claudia Stagoff-Belfort, Christopher Gernon