Social-Ecological Resilience: Adapting a Measure for Individuals with Lived Experience of AUD and Homelessness.

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Project Summary While researchers have begun to explore resilience in managing and negotiating adverse circumstances associated with homelessness, no research to date has explored the resilience of individuals who have both experienced homelessness and are actively using alcohol. Understanding and being able to leverage these individuals’ resilience as strengths in AUD treatment and service provision stands to improve treatment outcomes in this vulnerable population. The long-term career goal for the candidate, Mx. Taurmini Fentress (LICSW, MPA), is to become an independent alcohol researcher with expertise in resilience and protective factors in substance use treatment and intervention development. The primary objective of this proposed NIAAA Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research is to validate and test an established measure of resilience (RRC-ARM) to characterize resilience in study participants and test it as a correlate of improved alcohol and QoL outcomes, as well as a potential mediator of the hypothesized treatment effects. This objective will be accomplished by examining three specific aims: 1) psychometrically validate the RRC-ARM for use with adults who have experienced homelessness and AUD; 2) test self-reported resilience as a mediator of the LEAP effect on alcohol and QoL outcomes; 3) qualitatively analyze and document definitions, perceptions and experiences of resilience in this population using semi-structured interviews and conventional content analysis. To fulfill these aims, the RRC-ARM will be administered to LEAP study participants at the baseline, 3, 6 and 12-month time points and qualitative interviews will be conducted at the 12-month time point. Quantitative analyses will test the psychometric properties of the RRC-ARM in the sample (N=500) and will then explore the RRC-ARM as a predictor and potential mediator of the hypothesized amelioration of alcohol and QoL outcomes over the course of the study. The proposed supplement fits within NIAAA’s strategic plan and has significant implications for public health, including introducing tools that have the potential to enhance risk assessment and tailoring of cost-effective treatment services for marginalized community members with lived experience of homelessness and AUD. The candidate will conduct the research under the supervision of Dr. Seema Clifasefi and the parent grant’s team of Co-I’s, as well as the candidate’s graduate school mentor, Dr. Michael Spencer to gain expertise in alcohol research, community based participatory research, qualitative research methodology, measurement development, and grant and scientific writing. Training activities include mentorship meetings, a T32 grant writing course, statistical consults, quantitative workshops, manuscript and conference paper preparation, and opportunities for professional development. This diversity supplement will allow the candidate to dedicate her time to the proposed activities aimed at establishing a path to independence as an investigator, thereby increasing the number of underrepresented researchers conducting research in the field of alcohol research.