The impact of paraprofessionals on client-centered substance use disorder recovery outcomes: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

Efforts to increase the number of behavioral health (BH) paraprofessionals delivering substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and prevention services in the U.S. are underway. This scoping review sought to determine the efficacy of these efforts by answering: what client-centered SUD recovery outcomes are associated with interventions delivered by paraprofessionals? Database searches identified 18 full-text, peer-reviewed studies published between 2014 and 2022 eligible for review; however, none of the charted studies met all inclusion criteria for answering the question. This scoping review revealed that there is insufficient data about the impact of paraprofessionals on SUD recovery outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Behavioral health
• impacts
• outcomes
• paraprofessionals
• scoping review
• substance use
• substance use disorders

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration [M01HP31280].