Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) adults face unique health disparities and addressing these disparities is a national health priority. Within this community, men who have sex with men (MSM) may be at elevated risk for alcohol and drug use as well as serious, yet preventable health conditions such as HIV and other STDs, viral hepatitis, pneumonia, and TB. Research suggests that addiction recovery residences are a promising mechanism to promote and sustain recovery from … [Read more...]
Practitioners
Digital Tool to Prevent Prenatal Drinking
A new clinical trial that will launch in September is an example of an innovative tool that can help educate and inform women of the risks of drinking during pregnancy. To find out more about this project and how it will impact women’s health, we caught up with Principal Investigator and ARG Scientist Madhabika Nayak. Tell me about your project and how it will support women’s health. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) continues to be a problem despite all the preventative measures … [Read more...]
Study Provides No-Cost Alcohol Treatment
For over 20 years Senior Scientist Douglas Polcin, EdD, has been studying addiction and treatment options, including recovery housing. His latest project, one that focuses on outpatient treatment for women with alcohol problems, is designed to assess the efficacy of intensive motivational interviewing (IMI). Over the next two years, the study will recruit 220 adult women, each randomized to one of two treatment types with services provided by licensed therapists and practitioners at New Leaf … [Read more...]
New Recovery Study Funded
Associate Scientist, Amy Mericle, recently received NIDA funding (R21 DA 039027) for a project that focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) adults who face unique health disparities. Within this community, men who have sex with men (MSM) are at increased risk for substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, and other adverse health conditions. Addiction recovery residences are a promising mechanism to enhance outcomes among individuals who abuse substances, but the experiences of … [Read more...]
Cannabis & Alcohol Shouldn’t Be Mixed
Even though cannabis is the most commonly used drug by people who drink alcohol, no study has looked at the implications of drinking and smoking cannabis at the same time. ARG Associate Scientist Meenakshi Sabina Subbaraman and Senior Scientist William C. Kerr have done just that - to investigate how combining the two substances affects adult drinkers compared to people who use both separately. Their findings show that simultaneous users had double the odds of drunk driving, social … [Read more...]
Is a Drink a Day Good for You?
There's been a lot of talk recently - both in the news and social media - that for people between the ages of 40 and 50 years old, having one drink a day is good for your health. The buzz started with a commentary by Professor Rubin, published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, who suggested that "physicians should counsel lifelong non-drinkers at about 40 to 50 years of age to relax and take a drink a day." However, ARG Senior Scientists Thomas K. … [Read more...]
How much can you safely drink before driving?
Black and Hispanic drinkers are more likely to overestimate how much they can safely drink two hours before driving, a new and innovative study examining impairment limits found. The study, to be published on line ahead of print in the American Journal of Public Health, determined that, on average and controlling for other factors such as weight, education and drinking history, self-reported impairment thresholds (number of standard drinks one could drink in 2 hours before driving without being … [Read more...]
How big is your drink?
Most people know that drink sizes differ depending on where you purchase your drink and that they're not very consistent, in particular when you compare with how much you pour when at home. Since the size of drink determines how much alcohol you're consuming, knowing the amount of alcohol in a "standard drink", or what the British call a "unit of alcohol", as well as how to pour that amount of your usual beverage, is critical when trying to stay healthy and making sure you're not exceeding the … [Read more...]
What is Recovery?
The term ‘recovery’ is widely used in the research literature. Recovery is a goal of alcohol treatment, and recovery-oriented systems of care are being developed to support that goal. Alcoholics who no longer drink and are trying to pursue an improved way of living/being say that they are ‘in recovery.’ Yet for all its use, and seeming centrality, there is no agreed upon definition of the term within the alcohol literature. Lacking a definition, recovery usually is equated with abstinence or … [Read more...]
Rapid Alcohol Problems Screen (RAPS) Helps Clinicians Assess Patients
The Rapid Alcohol Problems Screen (RAPS) is a five-item instrument designed by Senior Scientist, Cheryl Cherpitel, to maximize sensitivity while maintaining strong specificity. Derived from other screens, and with no weighting, adding or scoring of responses, the RAPS provides a quick way for clinicians to determine who may have a drinking problem. This infographic provides some background information on its development, testing and the research involved. The test itself is available as … [Read more...]