Clinical Research Directory

Barbershop Talk: Reducing Excessive Alcohol Consumption Among Men

Unhealthy drinking is considered one of the top 10 public health concerns in the United States. Not only has heavy drinking been linked to poorer overall health and the chances of getting cancer and cardiovascular diseases, but it also causes about 88,000 deaths and 2.5 million years of potential life lost each year in the U.S. Men living in rural areas tend to drink more. In Arkansas, a rural state with high rates of unhealthy drinking, men are more likely to report heavy drinking (4 or more drinks a day) and to drink more when binge drinking. Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) is an evidence-based, multilevel, integrated public health approach for early intervention and timely referral to more intensive treatment for those with substance use disorders. SBIRTs have been successfully used in primary care and emergency settings. However, men in rural areas may lack access to evidence-based care for unhealthy drinking due to many factors, including limited healthcare providers and insurance standing. Given the increased chances of death and illness linked to harmful drinking among rural men and the serious health consequences involved, it is urgent to improve access to evidence-based care. This can be achieved by expanding services into community settings that men in rural areas are more likely to visit, such as barbershops. Thus, the goals of this proposed Hybrid Type 2 pragmatic effectiveness-implementation trial are to: 1) test the effectiveness of an evidence-based SBIRT intervention for use within barbershops (Barbershop Talk); and 2) generate the scientific evidence needed to implement SBIRTs in "real world" settings. Data from this study will further our understanding of how to reduce the chances of experiencing alcohol attributable morbidity and mortality among men living in rural areas. Data will also enhance our understanding of strategies that can improve the implementation of evidence-based care models in non-clinical settings, thereby extending the reach of evidence-based care to rural communities with high needs.

A Brief Intervention for Alcohol Users With Interpersonal Trauma

The current proposal aims to enhance a mobile-delivered brief intervention for young adults with heavy alcohol use and interpersonal trauma by including adaptive coping strategies for managing trauma-related distress and using peer coaches after delivery of the intervention to maintain treatment gains. Individuals will be randomized to a modified brief intervention incorporating with peer coaches, a standard brief intervention, or assessment only. Participants will be followed up at 3 and 6 months post intervention. The investigators hypothesize that the trauma-informed and peer-supported brief intervention (TIPS-BI) will show low levels of dropout, will be perceived positively by participants, and will result in greater reductions in alcohol use compared to a standard brief intervention and assessment only.

Social Media Intervention for Risky Drinking

This study is being completed to test prevention methods to promote wellness and reduce risky behaviors, including the use of substances such as alcohol and other drugs. This study will help the study team learn about ways of delivering this information that is both appealing and helpful to young adults.

Developing Functional Connectivity-Guided TMS for Alcohol Use Disorder

Alcohol Use Disorders are currently positioned as the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States, constituting a humanitarian crisis with substantial financial burden on society and medical facilities. While several pharmacological interventions exist, 60% of individuals who seek these treatments relapse to alcohol within 6 months. These high relapse rates are due in part to elevated brain response to alcohol cues in the environment. This study seeks to evaluate the efficacy of one session of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) guided transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) as a strategy to reduce brain reactivity to alcohol cues.

Multi-Component Breath Alcohol Intervention Phase 3

This is the third stage of a three-stage, NIH-funded study to develop and test a multi-modal intervention concerning blood/breath alcohol concentration for young adults who drink heavily. The multimodal intervention will be made up of brief telehealth counseling and psychoeducation and use of three existing mobile technologies. The brief counseling/psychoeducation and mobile technologies provide personalized feedback regarding blood or breath alcohol content. The long-term goal of use of these mobile technologies will be to facilitate moderate drinking. However, the main goals of the proposed research are to learn more about feasibility of our procedures, perceived value of the technologies and ease of use from the research participants' points of view. In this third stage of the study, the investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial building on the formative research conducted in Stages 1 and 2.

Multi-Component Breath Alcohol Intervention

This is the first stage of a three-stage, NIH-funded study to develop and test initially a multi-modal intervention concerning blood/breath alcohol concentration for young adults. The multimodal intervention will be made up of brief telehealth counseling and psychoeducation and use of three mobile technologies to facilitate moderate drinking. In the first stage of the study, we will conduct formative research to obtain input from the study population, test initially the telehealth version of the brief counseling and psychoeducation and to develop a simple, "low tech" approach to coaching participants to use the three mobile technologies in typical drinking situations. Participation will last approximately one month.

Motivating Campus Change Study

The study evaluates the relative merit of a multi-component PFI presented in the traditional simultaneous delivery (i.e., all components at once) versus a sequential format, wherein individual PFI components are delivered one at a time over several weeks to minimize time and attention demands for each component.