Alcohol Research Training: Methods and Mechanisms of Change

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Project Summary/Abstract This application requests five more years of support for a highly successful training program at the University of New Mexico (UNM) Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions (CASAA). The program, initiated in 2010, has trained 26 pre- and postdoctoral trainees for careers in alcohol research. Support is requested for 4 pre-doctoral trainees, drawn from the Department of Psychology, and 3 post-doctoral trainees from disciplines relevant to the goals of the training program, such as psychology, sociology, psychiatry, social work, population health, and economics. The training program prepares future scientists to develop and test effective models for impacting change in alcohol use through improved approaches to treatment and indicated prevention, to conduct research on processes of change in drinking behavior, and to develop and test models to disseminate knowledge of effective interventions and change processes to diverse populations. Central questions that trainees address include: (1) What factors stimulate change in at-risk and clinical populations? (2) What psychological, social, and neurobiological mechanisms underlie successful change at the individual level? (3) How does modeling of different trajectories of change contribute to understanding change processes? (4) What types of interventions are more and less effective in supporting recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD), and, equally important, what specific aspects of treatments account for their effectiveness? (5) How do change processes and interventions vary based on individual differences (e.g., genetic profiles, sociodemographic characteristics, co-morbidity, social/cultural environment) and how can examination of individual differences inform precision medicine for AUD? (6) What are effective and efficient approaches to disseminate evidence-based interventions and knowledge about change processes to practitioners and diverse populations? The program is directed and run at the Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions (CASAA), a multidisciplinary center devoted to treatment, prevention, and epidemiological research on alcohol and other substance use. The UNM Department of Psychology and the Mind Research Network, a private, non-profit neuroimaging center on the UNM campus, are important contributing partners. Ten core faculty serve as primary preceptors for trainees. These faculty members have strong records of mentorship and research on effective models of prevention and treatment to reduce alcohol-related harm, research on neurocognitive and behavioral mechanisms of behavior change, studies with diverse populations, and dissemination research. The 15 contributing faculty bring complementary expertise in neurobiology and neurocognition, emerging methodologies in alcohol research, behavioral interventions, diverse populations, and dissemination science, and provide content expertise and opportunities for secondary research experiences.