HELP-SEEKING AND RECOVERY PROCESSES IN PROBLEM DRINKERS

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This proposal is a request for an ADAMHA Research Scientist Development Award (RSDA) for Jalie A. Tucker, PhD., Professor of Psychology at Auburn University. The candidate's research is aimed at disaggregating influences on help-seeking for alcohol problems from influences on recovery, whether assisted by interventions or not. Such data are crucial for understanding why most problem drinkers do not enter treatment and for devising interventions that reach this underserved majority and that better capture the natural forces that support recovery. The candidate is the PI on a 5-year R-01 from NIAAA that is investigating these issues: Study #1 is a 3 X 2 retrospective design using problem drinkers with different help-seeking histories (no assistance, A.A. only, or treatment- plus-A.A.) and current drinking status (stable abstinence or current problem drinking). The study will differentiate subjects' life circumstances and alcohol-related problems as a function of their help- seeking vs. recovery status and also will separate environmental factors that motivate recovery from those that maintain it. Study #2 is a 2-year prospective assessment of environmental influences on the natural recovery process using untreated problem drinkers who have recently become abstinent or moderation drinkers. The study will yield a fine-grained assessment of the environmental circumstances that are associated with recovery and relapses of varying severity. In the competitive renewal to be submitted during the RSDA period, Study #1 will be retired, and Study #2 will be expanded to include treatment participants, A.A. participants, and untreated problem drinkers who are attempting to recover. The expanded version will evaluate whether a common molar environmental context supports long-term recoveries achieved with or without interventions and will evaluate how interventions interact with problem drinkers' ongoing life circumstances and social networks. Plans for career enhancement include acquiring knowledge of public health approaches to behavioral interventions and health services utilization and continued collaboration with colleagues at the University of Washington, who are pursuing similar alcohol research questions from a public health perspective. Receipt of an RSDA would provide Dr. Tucker with stable funding to support greater involvement in research and scholarly development and would relieve her from reliance on short-term mechanisms of support.