ICH’s Director of Evaluation Ranjani Paradise was interviewed for Boston University’s The Brink, a research-focused magazine. Ranjani and her research collaborator, Simeon Kimmel, discussed findings from the Boston Overdose Linkage to Treatment Study (BOLTS), which ICH led with funding from RIZE Massachusetts Foundation and collaborators from the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), Boston Medical Center (BMC), and BU School of Public Health (BUSPH).
BOLTS is a qualitative research study that examined access to treatment for people who recently experienced an opioid overdose in Boston, with particular focus on racial/ethnic equity. The study design and data collection were guided by input from a wide range of stakeholders, including front line service providers and people who have lived experience with addiction from the Black and Latinx communities. BOLTS included interviews with 59 overdose survivors in Boston, including 29 individuals who were experiencing unsheltered homelessness, as well as 28 key informants including policymakers, healthcare providers, harm reductionists, first responders, and community leaders.
The Brink covered BOLTS findings related to homelessness and substance use disorder treatment that were recently published in the International Journal of Drug Policy. You can read Ranjani’s interview in Boston University’s “A Notorious Boston Intersection, Mass and Cass, Faces an Opioid Overdose Crisis. BU Researchers Are Turning to Survivors for Answers” article here.