Peer Support Assistant - Institute for Juvenile Research, College of Medicine

The Depart of Psychiatry is seeking Peer Support Assistant (PSAs). PSAs are essential for recruiting participants into the multi-year Chicago Data-driven Opioid Screening, Engagement, Treatment and Prevention (C-DOSETaP) Program because they have established relationships and credibility within the communities being studied. Their presence helps increase awareness, address questions and concerns, and build trust among individuals who may be hesitant to participate in research.

PSAs can improve recruitment of diverse and underrepresented populations, enhancing the representativeness and generalizability of study findings. They also facilitate ongoing engagement with participants, which can support retention over the course of a long-term study.

Duties

Responsibilities

• Conduct outreach, education, and engagement activities to identify and recruit study participants.
• Responsible for recruiting study participants Tracking and maintaining contact with study participants after enrollment Maintaining high rates of retention in research follow-up assessments.
• Participates in and successfully completes clinical research and IRB training requirements.
• Maintains logs of and documents outreach, engagement, recruitment, and follow-up activities.
• Engages in outreach, education, and participant recruitment activities at community and social service agencies, such as food distribution sites, needle and syringe exchange programs, health clinics, hospital emergency departments, and health fairs or other community events.
• Understands and adheres to confidentiality and privacy protections for persons with opioid or other substance use and for study participants and maintains appropriate professional boundaries.
• May be assigned to attend local or national meetings and conferences to discuss peer outreach activities and practices and disseminate research results.
• Meets regularly with study team to track and manage community outreach, engagement, recruitment, and follow-up activities and to address recruitment and data retention issues.
• Attends all scheduled or required meetings with the site Project Director or other study leadership team.
• Perform other related duties and participate in special projects as assigned.