MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In his nearly five years as director of West Virginia University’s Office of Health Services Research, Adam Baus has conducted several inquiries into how to improve health outcomes for West Virginians. But one area of study, he said, was lacking.

“Little research attention has been given to learning directly from those in medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder,” Baus said.

Medication-assisted treatment, or MAT, is a type of therapy used by behavioral medicine professionals to treat chronic addictions like opioid use disorder (OUD). In MAT programs, FDA-approved medications like buprenorphine, methadone or naltrexone are used in conjunction with counseling and behavioral therapy to treat dependence.

Baus and his team of researchers wondered what helped or hindered potential MAT patients in their recovery efforts...

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