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New Grants from NCRG
"A benchmark study for monitoring exposure to new gambling," PI: Sarah Nelson, Ph.D.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is nearing an historic change to its legal gambling landscape. The expansion of legal gambling opportunities to include large resort style casinos presents a unique opportunity to learn about the short- and long-term ramifications of such expansion on public health. Because this period represents a natural experiment within Massachusetts, there is a limited window of opportunity to collect accurate baseline data. To determine how new gambling opportunities impact the public's gambling-related health, it is imperative to establish baseline estimates of gambling-related behaviors and health prior to the opening of new gambling venues and then track the changes in these individuals' health and behavior across time. This pilot project will survey the Massachusetts arm of an existing nationally representative online panel about their current gambling behaviors, problems, and attitudes, as well as other leisure behaviors, spending habits, substance use, and mental health to establish a benchmark for a future long-term longitudinal investigation of the effect of gambling expansion on public health.
"Expanding the study of actual Internet gambling behavior: Exposure and adaptation with a newly opened market," PI: Heather Gray, Ph.D.
In this work, the Division on Addiction will partner with researchers from Reykjavik University and the University of Iceland to conduct an analysis of actual Internet gambling records from a regional Internet gaming provider. We will use these records to conduct an epidemiological description of gamblers and gambling behavior; to describe the gambling behavior of most active gamblers; to describe the gambling behavior of gamblers identified as "high risk;" and to describe gamblers' adaptation to new gambling opportunities. Results from these studies will provide a more complete description of how people gamble online.
New Grant from St. Francis House
"St. Francis House Linking, Evaluation, Assessment, & Data (LEAD) System," PI: Sarah Nelson, Ph.D.
The Division on Addiction continues its collaboration with St. Francis House, the largest day shelter in New England for homeless individuals, on the Linking, Evaluation, Assessment & Data System (LEAD). LEAD is a technological solution for conducting comprehensive assessments with St. Francis House guests, tracking their use of services and programs, and evaluating the impact of those programs and services. The Division has been working with SFH to develop and implement this comprehensive relational database system capable of tracking guests’ paths through SFH programs and services, integrating assessment information from multiple programs/services and times, and generating output at the individual and aggregate level. The purpose of such a system is to assess how well SFH is providing integrated services, how specific services can be improved, and whether certain services can be targeted to certain guests. In addition, the LEAD system will improve the intake and data collection processes at SFH, making it easier for SFH employees to collect, maintain, integrate, and share information about their guests.
New Grant from SAMHSA with the Duffy Health Center
SAMHSA Cooperative Agreements to Benefit Homeless Individuals
Harvard/Duffy Health Center Partnership through SAMHSA - Heather Gray, Ph.D.
will be the project evaluator for a cooperative agreement recently awarded
by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to the
Duffy Health Center, Cape Cod’s leading provider of services to homeless and
at risk individuals. The three-year project will increase access to
permanent housing for chronically homeless persons, using strategies and
interventions based on Duffy’s successful integrated model of care that
includes outreach, benefits enrollment, case management, behavioral health
and primary care services and permanent supportive housing. Dr. Gray is
partnering with Duffy to evaluate outcomes related to best practices of
trauma-informed care, comprehensive case management, Motivational
Interviewing, and Housing First. Expected outcomes are to improve the
health, stability, and life functioning of the target populations; reduce
frequency and duration of emotional instability or relapse from substance
abuse; and increase housing stability. The Duffy Health Center was one of 20
agencies competing from across the country for the grant.
www.duffyhealthcenter.org
New Multi-Year Grant with The Century Council to Reduce Repeat DUI by Developing a Computerized Assessment and Referral System (CARS)
New research has identified that repeat DUI offenders often suffer from a number of psychiatric disorders (e.g., Shaffer et al., 2007), suggesting that untreated mental health issues contribute to the persisting rate of DUI. To combat this pressing public health problem and to build a foundation for expanded treatment, the Division of Addiction, with support from The Century Council, has begun work to develop and test a computerized clinical report generator tool, the Computerized Assessment and Referral System (CARS), for use in DUI intervention and treatment settings. CARS will package a powerful mental health assessment tool, the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI: Kessler & Ustun, 2004) with a user-friendly interface, increased flexibility, and immediate personalized output, to create a tool that can be used easily by DUI facility staff to screen DUI offenders and target interventions to address comorbid mental health issues. Dr. Ronald Kessler, Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, co-director of the World Health Organization’s World Mental Health Surveys, and an original developer of the CIDI, and his team are collaborating with the Division on the development of CARS.
Shaffer, H. J., Nelson, S. E., LaPlante, D. A., LaBrie, R. A., Albanese, M., & Caro, G. (2007). The epidemiology of psychiatric disorders among repeat DUI offenders accepting a treatment sentencing option. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75(5), 795-804.
Kessler, R. C., & Ustun, T. B. (2004). The World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative version of the World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 13(2), 93-121.
For the original press release, click here.
Accepting Applications for our Undergraduate Summer Research Mentorship
Please visit our opportunities page for more details.
Division Staff Receive Travel Awards
We are please to announce that Ms. Tasha Chandler, Head
of Research and Academic Operations, and Dr. Matthew Tom, Data Analyst, have
received travel awards for professional development training.
Tasha will be attending the National Council of University Research
Administrators (NCURA) Financial Research Administration Conference in New
Orleans, LA on March 11-12.
NCURA Region I - New
England provides a $1,000 travel award to help defray the costs of this
conference for research administrators from New England, preferably new to
the field. NCURA Region I provides one award annually based on demonstration
of financial need and professional benefit to the individual.
Matthew will be attending the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG)
workshop at the University of Chicago on March 14-15. The workshop will
focus on effective grantsmanship, demystifying the process of applying to
the NCRG and NIH, and advice for getting published in peer-reviewed
journals. The travel support is for nominees within 10 years of their
terminal degree who are involved in gambling research. NCRG provides the
all-expense paid travel award for early stage investigators with the goal of
cultivating the next generation of scientists focused on gambling.
Congratulations, Tasha and Matt!
The Pediatrician and Substance Use Conference during April
Our partners at the Boston Children's Hospital are hosting a conference from April 26th to April 28th, 2013 entitled The Pediatrician and Substance Use. Please click here for additional information.
Recruitment Opportunities for Studies
Click here for more information about a smoking cessation study, as well as studies for veterans.
Moving ahead: Evaluation of a work-skills training program for homeless adults
This study examines the impact of a work-skills program grounded in an integrated services approach on both employment and related life domains among homeless individuals. Six hundred thirty-eight participants in a 14-week work-skills program at a large day center in New England completed assessments at intake between 1999 and 2007; a subsample of 333 also completed assessments at graduation from the program; a smaller subsample of 55 participants were re-assessed 6 months after graduation. These assessments measured work and related life skills, employment, housing status, general health status, substance use, self-esteem and self-efficacy, and legal involvement. Results revealed improvement in all types of work and related life skills, employment and income, and multiple other life domains from baseline to graduation and follow-up. Exploratory analyses suggested that improvements in work and related life skills were associated with improvement in self-esteem and self-efficacy, and that these improvements predicted stable housing situations at follow-up. Overall, these findings indicate that, for individuals struggling with the challenges of homelessness, completion of a work-skills program has a positive impact on skills and employment, and on a diverse set of life domains. Click here to visit the Library & Archives page.
Behavioral characteristics of Internet gamblers who trigger corporate responsible gambling interventions
We examined the electronic gambling records of subscribers (N = 2,066) who triggered a responsible gaming alert system at a large international online gaming company. We compared these cases with control subscribers (N = 2,066) who had the same amount of exposure to the Internet gambling service provider. Indices of the intensity of gambling activity (e.g., total number of bets made, number of bets per betting day) best distinguished cases from controls, particularly in the case of live-action sports betting. Control group players evidenced behavior similar to the population of players using this service. These results add to our understanding of behavioral markers for disordered Internet gambling and will aid in the development of behavior-based algorithms capable of predicting the presence and/or the onset of disordered Internet gambling. Click here to visit the Library & Archives page.
Recently Published:
LaPlante, D. A., Afifi, T. O., & Shaffer, H. J. (2012). Games and gambling involvement among casino patrons. Journal of Gambling Studies, Online First. doi: 10.1007/s10899-012-9307-z (Password Protected)
LaBrie, R. A., Peller, A. J., LaPlante, D. A., Bernhard, B., Harper, A., Schrier, T., & Shaffer, H. J. (2012). A brief self-help toolkit intervention for gambling problems: A randomized multi-site trial. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 82(2), 278-289. doi: 10.1111/j.1939-0025.2012.01157.x (Password Protected)