Implementation Science to Optimize Alcohol Misuse Prevention and Treatment in the Criminal Justice System

When beginning your next investigator-initiated application, consider the following NIH highlighted topic. The area of science described below is of interest to the listed NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs). This is not a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO).

Apply through an appropriate NIH Parent Funding Announcement or another broad NIH opportunity available on Grants.gov. Learn how to interpret and use Highlighted Topics.

Topic Description

Post Date: July 7, 2026

Expiration Date: July 7, 2028

This topic encourages research conducted in the U.S. criminal justice (CJ) and juvenile justice systems that focuses on prevention of alcohol use initiation, maintenance of alcohol abstinence, and/or reduction in alcohol use before it escalates to an alcohol use disorder (AUD); the treatment of AUD in such settings, and the efficacious implementation of alcohol misuse prevention intervention and treatment programs in such settings.  Such work is highly significant as alcohol use problems are often under-detected and under-treated among the CJ population.

Background
The CJ population comprises the jail, parole, probation, juvenile justice, and prison populations. Worldwide, these populations report elevated levels of AUD and high-risk drinking in comparison to the general population; co-morbid drug use disorder is also common. Research suggests that alcohol problems often are under-detected and under-treated among the CJ population—as well as among corrections officials—while prevention interventions in these settings are relatively neglected. Moreover, conducting alcohol misuse research can be challenging in settings where detainees often are quickly cycling back to the community.

Alcohol misuse prevention approaches in CJ settings might focus on programs for adolescents and young adults that prevent alcohol use initiation, sustain alcohol abstinence, or reduce alcohol use before it escalates to AUD. Some studies suggest that brief motivational interviewing-based group interventions may be a useful intervention approach for incarcerated adolescents with substance use issues; other prevention intervention approaches include cognitive-behavioral and family-based prevention programs for alcohol use by adolescents. Individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, over-represented in the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems, may require specialized intervention approaches. In addition, some alcohol treatment approaches conducted in CJ settings, such as extended-release naltrexone, have shown efficacy in extending durations of care, reductions in positive drug and alcohol tests, and fewer missed drug court sessions among parolees and probationers, but this research requires confirmation with larger sample sizes, longer duration, and use in combination with behavioral interventions.

Even when the individual does receive a prevention or treatment intervention for high-risk drinking/AUD in the correctional setting, he/she faces a potential gap in care when released back to the community, where they may come into contact with people, places, and things that facilitate relapse to substance misuse. For instance, retention on extended-release naltrexone after release may be negatively impacted by a relapse to cocaine use after community return.

Participating ICOs

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Research of interest under this topic includes, but not limited to:

  • Approaches to development and testing of brief motivational interviewing-based alcohol interventions that can be integrated into CJ settings.
  • Investigations into optimal implementation of Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment intervention model for CJ settings.
  • Assessments of the efficacy of brief motivational interventions administered pre-release to decrease substance use and change social behaviors among returning inmates.
  • Studies examining efficacy of combining motivational enhancement and cognitive behavioral therapy in CJ settings.
  • Approaches to implementation research to guide care linkages for ex-inmates returning to the community.
  • Development and validation of remote intervention technology adapted for CJ settings.
    • Approaches to development and testing of cost-effective prevention and treatment approaches for corrections of officials’ alcohol misuse.
ICO Scientific Contact:
Robert Freeman, Ph.D.
[email protected]

Office of Disease Prevention (ODP)

For this topic, ODP is particularly interested in studies that test implementation strategies to promote the adoption, delivery, and sustainment of AUD prevention programs, practices, tools, guidelines, and policies in criminal justice and juvenile justice settings. 

This office does not award grants. Applications must be relevant to the objectives of at least one of the participating Institutes or Centers listed in this topic.
ICO Scientific Contact:
Denise L Stredrick, PhD
[email protected]

For technical issues E-mail OER Webmaster