About

Sarah Brothers is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at Pennsylvania State University. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University, a Master's degree in Sociology from Yale, and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research examines how vulnerable groups experience and respond to health-related issues, utilizing methods such as surveys, in-depth interviews, ethnographic observations, and Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR). Her work focuses on topics including methadone treatment during COVID-19, issues facing youth experiencing homelessness, and patient perspectives on HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) treatment. Her dissertation, which received multiple awards including the Simmons’ Award for Outstanding Dissertation in Medical Sociology from the American Sociological Association, investigates the construction, performance, and assessment of 'uncredentialed expertise' in assisted injection, a high-risk practice in which one person injects another with illicit drugs. Her research has been supported by notable fellowships such as the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship, and the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship in Women’s Studies. Her scholarly work has been published in journals including Social Science & Medicine, AIDS and Behavior, the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, and the International Journal of Drug Policy.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Geology
• Geomorphology
• Paleontology
• Psychology

Selected publications

• Planning for the Wrong Pandemic: COVID-19 and the Limits of Expert Knowledge Planning for the Wrong Pandemic: COVID-19 and the Limits of Expert Knowledge, by LakoffAndrew. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2024. 150 pp. $22.95 paper. ISBN: 9781509557288.

  Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · 2025-11-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• A longitudinal mixed methods social network analysis to evaluate a peer-led housing program for older men returning from incarceration: Study protocol & pre-implementation results

  Health & Justice · 2025-08-16 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: We describe a longitudinal mixed methods program evaluation protocol for a novel peer-led housing program for older men transitioning from prison to the community after completing long sentences of incarceration. The program departs from traditional community corrections models by providing peer-run housing designed to build and enhance peer and community social ties. This previously untested program relies on the principles of network alteration and provides a case study for examining interpersonal mechanisms underlying behavioral health and justice related outcomes. METHODS: We use mixed methods and longitudinal social network analysis to evaluate the program, while also applying implementation science to document program development. We focus our evaluation on key health and social outcomes, including mental health, substance use, stress, health risk behaviors, well-being, financial security, housing, and recidivism. With longitudinal surveys, we collect (1) dynamic network data of resident and staff relationships and (2) behavioral health/social data of participants. We also administer longitudinal resident and staff interviews. Resident interviews focus on interpersonal relationships and reentry experiences, while staff interviews describe program implementation. We apply longitudinal statistical models to complete (i.e., sociocentric) network data within the house to examine how dynamic network properties connect to changes in residents' health, behavioral, and social outcomes. We integrate longitudinal survey, individual-level (i.e., egocentric) network, and qualitative data to understand how the program works. To evaluate program impacts for long-term health and social outcomes, we use an untreated matched sample to compare 6- and 12-months post-prison release outcomes using administrative data related to rearrest/reincarceration and behavioral health. PRE-IMPLEMENTATION RESULTS: We use a logic model to present and organize pre-implementation results from interviews with program staff and peer mentors. Our results describe program design and intended goals, while highlighting how the program is rooted in principles of peer support, trauma-informed care, and restorative justice to address unique stressors of incarceration to foster responsibility and facilitate reintegration. DISCUSSION: Community program evaluation research allows us to document real-world contextual factors that may drive intervention effectiveness. Results of the mixed methods evaluation will provide a comprehensive understanding of one network-based program's ability to support health and social outcomes of older, previously incarcerated men. Results may inform future reentry services.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Initiation and Retention in Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) Among Women: A Multi-Paneled Qualitative Study of Women in Recovery, Women who Terminated Treatment, and the Professionals who Serve Them

  Drug and Alcohol Dependence · 2024-07-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Pregnancy- and parenting-related barriers to receiving medication for opioid use disorder: A multi-paneled qualitative study of women in treatment, women who terminated treatment, and the professionals who serve them

  Women s Health · 2024-02-16 · 24 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Women face unique barriers when seeking treatment for substance use disorders, often related to pregnancy and parenting. OBJECTIVES: This study adds to the extant literature by elucidating the pregnancy- and parenting-related barriers women face when initiating or continuing medication for opioid use disorder, specifically. DESIGN: This study is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews. METHODS: Three subgroups participated in semi-structured interviews regarding their experiences (N = 42): women with current or past opioid use disorders who have used or were presently using medication for opioid use disorder, professionals working in substance use disorder treatment programs, and criminal justice professionals. RESULTS: Three parenting-related subthemes were identified: (1) insufficient access to childcare to navigate appointments and meetings, (2) fear of losing custody of, or access to, one's children, and (3) prioritizing one's children's needs before one's own. Three subthemes were identified with regard to pregnancy as a barrier: (1) hesitancy among physicians to prescribe medication for opioid use disorder for pregnant patients, (2) limited access to resources in rural areas, and (3) difficulty navigating a complex, decentralized health system. CONCLUSION: Systemic changes are needed to reduce pregnant and parenting women's barriers to seeking medication for opioid use disorder. These include improved childcare support at both in-patient and outpatient treatment programs, which would assuage women's barriers related to childcare, as well as their fears of losing access to their children if they spend time away from their children for treatment. An additional systemic improvement that may reduce barriers for these women is access to comprehensive, integrated care for their prenatal care, postpartum care, pediatric appointments, and appropriate substance use disorder treatment.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The association between gestational age at delivery and neonatal abstinence syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis

  Dalhousie Medical Journal · 2024-01-05

  reviewOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Objectives: Some evidence suggests that infants born at later gestational age (GA) are at higher risk of developing neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). This systematic review estimated the association between GA at delivery and development of NAS in infants born to women on opioid agonist therapy (OAT).
 Methods: MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Embase, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from January 2000 to April 2023. Studies reporting data on the association between GA and NAS among pregnant women being treated with OAT were eligible for inclusion. Random effects meta-analysis was used to estimate the mean difference in GA between infants affected by NAS and unaffected infants; odds ratio (OR) for the association between preterm birth and NAS; and OR for the association between gestational week and NAS.
 Results: Of 966 records identified, 38 studies were eligible for this review. The pooled mean difference in GA between infants affected by NAS and unaffected infants was 0.62 weeks (95% CI: 0.08–1.16, I2=90.7%). The odds of developing NAS were estimated to increase by 3% per gestational week (OR 1.03, 95% CI: 0.997-1.06, I2=84.2%). The OR for the association between preterm birth and developing NAS was estimated to be 0.87 (95% CI: 0.63-1.21, I2=85.7%).
 Conclusions: The data included in this review demonstrate that higher GA is unlikely to be associated with an increased risk of NAS, although poor study quality and significant study heterogeneity were observed.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Community-Driven Research with People Who Use Drugs: A Virtual Project During Multiple Epidemics

  Sociological Methodology · 2024-09-29 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Sociological approaches to digital and community-engaged research experienced significant innovation in recent years. This article examines developing and implementing a primarily virtual community-driven research (CDR) project with the National Survivors Union, the American national drug-users union, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Relationships between researchers and directly impacted people, such as people who use drugs, face many barriers. These issues were exacerbated during COVID-19 when in-person research decreased while drug-related harms increased. In response, this project modified the CDR model for drug-use research. The CDR model is particularly beneficial for studies with marginalized populations who may mistrust researchers. In CDR, impacted community members are fundamental project drivers. This project's data are based on 29 months of weekly group meetings in National Survivors Union online spaces, group and individual text conversations, phone calls, and shared-document group work. The project co-developed methods for CDR with directly impacted people, including community-initiated research questions, low-threshold methods, collaborative writing strategies, coauthorship practices foregrounding directly impacted perspectives, and multiple dissemination forms. Modified CDR expands sociological methods for digital research, citizen science, and community-engaged research with vulnerable, criminalized groups. This approach may aid inclusive, innovative sociological scholarship and effective public health policy for reducing morbidity and mortality during multiple crises.

  PublisherDOI

• Rethinking urban-rural designations in public health surveillance of the overdose crisis and crafting an agenda for future monitoring

  International Journal of Drug Policy · 2023-06-15 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Rurality has served as a key concept in popular and scientific understandings of the US overdose crisis, with White, rural, and low-income areas thought to be most heavily affected. However, we observe that overdose trends have risen nearly uniformly across the urban-rural designations employed in most research, implying that their importance has likely been overstated or incorrectly conceptualized. Nevertheless, urbanicity/rurality does serve as a key axis to understand inequalities in overdose mortality when assessed with more nuanced modalities-employing a more granular analysis of geography at the sub-county level, and intersecting rurality sociodemographic indices such as race/ethnicity. Using national overdose data from 1999-2021, we illustrate the intersectional importance of rurality for overdose surveillance. Finally, we offer recommendations for integrating these insights into drug overdose surveillance moving forward.

  PublisherDOI

• The impact of gestational age on the development of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: A retrospective cohort study

  Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada · 2023-05-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Patient experiences of methadone treatment changes during the first wave of COVID-19: a national community-driven survey

  Harm Reduction Journal · 2023-03-09 · 15 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  BACKGROUND: During COVID-19, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) allowed Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) programs to relax in-person MMT requirements to reduce COVID-19 exposure. This study examines patient-reported changes to in-person methadone clinic attendance requirements during COVID-19. METHODS: From June 7, 2020, to July 15, 2020, a convenience sample of methadone patients (N = 392) were recruited in collaboration with National Survivors Union (NSU) in 43 states and Washington D.C. through social media (Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and Web site pop-ups). The community-driven research (CDR) online survey collected information on how patient take-home methadone dosing and in-person drug testing, counseling, and clinic visit frequency changed prior to COVID-19 (before March 2020) to during COVID-19 (June and July 2020). RESULTS: During the study time period, the percentage of respondents receiving at least 14 days of take-home doses increased from 22 to 53%, while the percentage receiving one or no take-home doses decreased from 22.4% before COVID-19 to 10.2% during COVID-19. In-person counseling attendance decreased from 82.9% to 19.4%. While only 3.3% of respondents accessed counseling through telehealth before COVID-19, this percentage increased to 61.7% during COVID-19. Many respondents (41.3%) reported visiting their clinics in person once a week or more during COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: During the first wave of COVID-19, methadone patients report decreased in-person clinic attendance and increased take-home doses and use of telehealth for counseling services. However, respondents reported considerable variations, and many were still required to make frequent in-person clinic visits, which put patients at risk of COVID-19 exposure. Relaxations of MMT in-person requirements during COVID-19 should be consistently implemented and made permanent, and patient experiences of these changes should be explored further.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Perceptions Towards HCV Treatment with Direct Acting Antivirals (DAAs): A Qualitative Analysis with Persons with HIV/HCV Co-infection Who Delay or Refuse Treatment

  AIDS and Behavior · 2022-07-01 · 11 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In the United States, approximately 25% of people with HIV (PWH) are co-infected with hepatitis C (HCV). Since 2014, highly effective and well-tolerated direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) have revolutionized HCV treatment. Uptake of DAAs by people with HIV/HCV co-infection has improved but remains suboptimal due to system, provider, and patient-level barriers. To explore patient-level issues by better understanding their attitudes towards DAA treatment, we conducted qualitative interviews with 21 persons with HIV/HCV co-infection who did not consent to DAA treatment or delayed treatment for at least 1 year after diagnosis. We found PWH perceived DAA treatment barriers and facilitators on multiple levels of the social-ecological environment: the individual (HCV disease and treatment literacy), interpersonal (peer influence), institutional (media and healthcare provider relationship), and structural levels (treatment cost and adherence support). Recommendations to improve DAA treatment uptake include HCV-treatment adherence support, HCV disease and treatment literacy training (particularly for substance use and DAA treatment interactions), and encouraging PWH who have successfully completed DAA treatment to speak with their peers.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Gary Kocurek

  The University of Texas at Austin

  7 shared

• Louise Vincent

  University of South Carolina Union

  6 shared

• Caty Simon

  5 shared

• Knina Strichartz

  5 shared

• Benjamin T. Cardenas

  Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

  4 shared

• Jeffrey Schonberg

  University of California, Berkeley

  3 shared

• David Mohrig

  The University of Texas at Austin

  3 shared

• Abby Coulter

  3 shared

Education

• PhD, Sociology

  Yale University

  2021

Awards & honors

• Simmons’ Award for Outstanding Dissertation in Medical Socio…