Development and clinical feasibility study of a brief version of an addiction‐focused phenotyping battery in females receiving buprenorphine for opioid use disorder

Abstract Introduction We aimed to streamline the NIDA Phenotyping Assessment Battery (PhAB), a package of self‐report scales and neurobehavioral tasks used in substance use disorder (SUD) clinical trials, for clinical administration ease. Tailoring the PhAB to shorten administration time for a treatment setting is critical to expanding its acceptability in SUD clinical trials. This study's primary objectives were to develop a brief version of PhAB (PhAB‐B) and assess its operational feasibility and acceptability in a female clinical treatment sample. Methods Assessments of the original PhAB were evaluated along several criteria to identify a subset for the PhAB‐B. Non‐pregnant females (N=55) between ages 18–65, stabilized on buprenorphine for opioid use disorder (OUD) at an outpatient addiction clinic, completed this abbreviated battery remotely or after a provider visit in clinic. Participant satisfaction questions were administered. REDCap recorded the time to complete PhAB‐B measures. Results The PhAB‐B included 11 measures that probed reward, cognition, negative emotionality, interoception, metacognition, and sleep. Participants who completed the PhAB‐B (N =55) were 36.1 ± 8.9 years of age, White (54.5%), Black (34.5%), and non‐Latinx (96.0%). Most participants completed the PhAB‐B remotely (n = 42, 76.4%). Some participants completed it in‐person (n = 13, 23.6%). PhAB‐B mean completion time was 23.0 ± 12.0 min. Participant experiences were positive, and 96% of whom reported that they would participate in the study again. Conclusion Our findings support the clinical feasibility and acceptability of the PhAB‐B among a female opioid use disorder outpatient addiction treatment sample. Future studies should assess the PhAB‐B psychometric properties among broader treatment samples.