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Department of Health Sciences

Facilitating Outreach and Care for the Understanding of Substance Use in Older Adults and Their Caregivers (FOCUS-OAC)

Project Team

Individual Partners

Dr. Lauren Selingo, Principal Investigator
Community Practice Lab Lead and UNC Division of OS/OT

Older Adults and Caregivers

Orange County Partners

Orange County Department on Aging

Starting Point Rural Harm Reduction Collective

Orange County Opioid Task Force

Orange County EMS

Community members interested in joining our Community Engaged Advisory Board are invited to complete our interest survey.

Project Phases

  1. Community Engaged Advisory Board Formation & Planning
    Recruitment of community stakeholders and development of pilot study methods.
  2. Pilot Study
    Data collection with 15 older adult caregivers to explore substance use-related experiences.
  3. Initial Data Review
    Community Engaged Advisory Board reviews findings and recommends methodological improvements.
  4. Expanded Exploratory Study
    Additional data collection with older adults and substance use providers.
  5. Analysis & Synthesis
    Integration of findings to inform future program/support network development.

Project Timeline

Summer 2025: Community Engaged Advisory Board recruitment and initial engagement

Fall 2025: Community Engaged Advisory Board meetings and planning

Spring 2026: Pilot study implementation

Summer 2026-2027: Expanded data collection and synthesis

Project Funding

FOCUS-OAC is funded in part through the Carolina Center for Public Service’s Thorp Faculty Engaged Scholars Program.

Connect With Us

We invite community members, caregivers, and organizations to connect with us. Complete our interest survey to learn more and stay engaged, or contact Dr. Lauren Selingo (lauren_selingo@med.unc.edu) with any questions.