Epidemiology & Experimental Interventions: NIDA Research

描述(由申请人提供)：我博士前研究的目的是为自己的职业生涯做准备，成为一名专注于NIDA的首席研究员，致力于药物依赖预防/早期干预策略。拟议的论文研究是检查和治疗临床上重要的大麻使用和依赖的一系列研究的第一步。这项研究的第一阶段在吸食大麻和依赖大麻的年轻人中实施和评估一种新颖的、匿名的、纵向的、基于网络的干预措施。将利用先进的统计模型来调查干预结果。拟议的论文研究源于这样一个事实，即大麻依赖是一个主要的公共卫生问题，需要针对使用大麻的年轻人进行大规模、低成本的干预计划。如果这篇论文提供了基于网络的干预的好处的证据，那么在这篇论文研究步骤的基础上建立起来的、涉及其他人群的后续研究将是必要的和值得的。否则，研究必须转向迭代过程中对干预措施的改进，直到我们更多地了解网络干预可以产生持久好处的限制条件(例如，作为CBT的辅助工具)。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The aim of my pre-doctoral research is to prepare myself for a career as a NIDA-focused principal investigator oriented toward drug dependence prevention/early intervention strategies. The proposed dissertation research represents an initial step in a line of research that examines and treats clinically significant cannabis use and dependence. The first phase of this research implements and evaluates a novel, anonymous, longitudinal, web-based intervention among cannabis using and dependent young adults. Advanced statistical models will be utilized to investigate intervention outcomes. The proposed thesis research stems from the fact that cannabis dependence represents a major public health concern, and that there is a need for large-scale, low-cost intervention programs targeting young adults who use cannabis. If the thesis gives evidence of benefit from the web-based intervention, later studies that build from this thesis research step, involving other populations, will be needed and merited. Otherwise, the research must shift toward refinements of the intervention in an iterative process, until we learn more about the limiting conditions under which web interventions can be made to yield lasting benefits (e.g., as an adjunct to CBT).