Stakeholder Landscape Analysis Report: Top Barriers, Needs, and Priorities from HEAL Connections’ National Partners

The HEAL Connections stakeholder engagement framework includes partnerships with 16 national associations across health, community services, patients, criminal justice, and policymaker audiences. Stakeholder engagement activities in HEAL Connections focus on creating meaningful, bidirectional communication avenues between researchers and stakeholders to understand the field’s priorities while further informing emerging needs, as well as the dissemination of tailored, research-informed resources and materials.

HEAL Connections’ 16 association partners assisted with the development of a Stakeholders Landscape Analysis Report through a series of interviews, focus group meetings, and feedback sessions with their diverse memberships. The report details the barriers and challenges, needs, and communication preferences of a broad array of audiences and fields that align with HEAL Initiative research priorities. The top six barriers and challenges include:

1. Lack of education and training. Partners identified the lack of education and training on substance use disorder (SUD) and pain, including current evidence-based treatments and interventions, as a significant barrier in their respective fields. 

2. Barriers to quality treatment and services. Partners identified the lack of access to quality care and treatment and highlighted the gaps and deficiencies in the availability of high-quality, evidence-based treatment and services for chronic pain and SUD patients.

3. Linkages, system collaborations. Partners identified the difficulties in coordinating care and linking patients between systems and coordination between different systems that are often siloed.

4. Funding. Partners identified funding issues as barriers to running treatment programs, implementing evidence-based programs and services, and providing education and training to the workforce.

5. One-size-fits-all approach. Pain and SUD patient respondents indicated that one-size-fits-all approaches are a challenge and advocate instead for interdisciplinary, individualized care. 

6. Lack of data, research. Pain and SUD patient partners identified the need for new research to increase knowledge of these conditions and improve our ability to provide effective, evidence-based treatments.

The Stakeholders Landscape Analysis Report also found that resource material format preferences range among health, justice, patient, community services, and policymaker audiences. The top format preferences include:

1. Blog posts/newsletter articles,

2. Slide decks,

3. Webinars, and 

4. Video explainers

Read the Report