9 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
This study will: (1) refine and finalize the SPEAR intervention manual for preventing alcohol use disorders (AUD) and associated harms for Pacific Islander young adults; and (2) test SPEAR for efficacy by conducting a pretest-posttest randomized controlled trial (RCT).
This is a randomized controlled trial to examine the efficacy of a game-based intervention to reduce alcohol-related harms among sexual and gender minority youth.
This study will evaluate effects of a multi-component, population-level intervention on alcohol use and related harms in six intervention cities relative to six matched comparison cities. Intervention components include screening and brief interventions by health providers, other evidence-based interventions (e.g., enforcement of drink-driving or underage drinking laws), and novel or partially tested interventions that warrant further evaluation. Key outcomes of interest include alcohol-related harms such as alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes and fatalities, heavy/binge drinking, underage drinking, and drinking and driving.
The goal of this project is to transform a successful, face-to-face harm-reduction treatment (HaRT-A) into a digital format, creating eHaRT-A. This new platform is specifically designed for people who have experienced homelessness and an alcohol use disorder (AUD), living within the framework of permanent, supportive, Housing First (HF) facilities. We hypothesize eHaRT-A will be more effective than the standard HF services in reducing alcohol-related harm and improving the overall quality of life for participants.
The current project uses a web-based program called the Expectancy Challenge Alcohol Literacy Curriculum (ECALC) to reduce alcohol use and associated harms among college students. Participants complete the interactive program in 50 minutes, and then provide daily, real-time data on expectancies and alcohol use for 3 weeks after intervention, and again for one week at 13 and 25 weeks after intervention. One group will also receive biweekly boosters delivered via smart phone to assess their impact on intervention decay over time. It is hypothesized that ECALC effects may decay over time, and that biweekly boosters will prevent this decay. Access to the ECALC is available on request from the principal investigator.
People experiencing chronic homelessness comprise a small yet high-morbidity, high-cost subset of the larger homeless population and are disproportionately impacted by alcohol-related harm. Unfortunately, traditional abstinence-based treatment does not adequately reach or engage this population, and both firsthand (problems stemming from one's own alcohol use) and secondhand (problems stemming from others' alcohol use) alcohol-related harm persists even after housing attainment. There have therefore been calls for more flexible and client-centered approaches tailored to this population's needs. Housing First, which entails the provision of immediate, permanent, low-barrier, nonabstinence-based housing, is a response to this call. Research has shown that Housing First is associated with decreased alcohol use, alcohol-related harm, and publicly funded service utilization. Nonetheless, Housing First residents continue to experience both first- and secondhand alcohol-related harm. Thus, further community-based interventions are necessary. To this end, a pilot project was conducted in which researchers as well as Housing First residents, staff and management codeveloped, implemented, and initially evaluated the Life Enhancing Alcohol-management Program (LEAP). The LEAP entails low-barrier, community-level, house-wide resident programming-including leadership opportunities, activities, and pathways to recovery. At the 6-month follow up, LEAP participants reported significantly more engagement in meaningful activities than control participants (p \< .001). Moreover, high levels of LEAP program engagement (\>2 activities per month) predicted significant reductions in alcohol use and alcohol-related harm (ps \< .01). To build on these promising findings, we propose a larger, cluster-randomized controlled trial of LEAP (N=160) as an innovative, community-based, and client-driven adjunct to Housing First. Analyses will test LEAP effectiveness in increasing engagement in meaningful activities, decreasing alcohol use, ameliorating both first- and secondhand alcohol-related harm, and improving quality of life. Engagement in meaningful activities will also be tested as a mediator of the LEAP effect on alcohol and quality-of-life outcomes. Finally, we will assess whether LEAP is associated with reduced costs stemming from participants' use of emergency health-care and criminal justice services.
This Stage II Randomized Efficacy Trial will compare the effectiveness of a theoretically informed and culturally responsive brief motivational intervention to a non-adapted brief intervention among non-treatment seeking Latinxs admitted for medical treatment of an injury who engage in at risk drinking or were drinking at the time of their injury. The culturally informed brief motivational intervention (CI-BMI) increases autonomous motivation to engage in protective drinking behavior and reduce alcohol problems while addressing barriers to help seeking and facilitating treatment utilization. This project will address the alcohol related health disparities and treatment inequities among Latinx who are more likely to experience alcohol problems yet less likely to receive treatment in order to reduce the negative public health impact of alcohol.
This project will evaluate the effectiveness and mechanisms of mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) delivered via video conferencing, as compared to referral to online mutual support groups, in supporting long-term whole-person recovery and improvements in neurobiologically-informed domains of addiction among individuals with alcohol use disorder who are interested in reducing or stopping drinking. The project will also examine the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance of MBRP as an accessible and freely available continuing care option that supports long-term recovery from alcohol use disorder in all communities nationwide, including medically underserved and health professional shortage areas.
An online, interactive web-based program for older teens and their parents is designed to address teen alcohol use and teen relationships. The parent-teen dyad both participate in the web-based program and engage in off-line discussion activities. This intervention promotes communication skills, refusal skills, and helps teens consider how to make healthy choices. A total of 411 family dyads (one parent, one teen) were recruited.