This K02 renewal application requests a second 5-year Independent Scientist Award (ISA) for Jalie A. Tucker, Ph.D., MPH, to support continued development of knowledge and skills in public health that are pertinent to her research on help-seeking and recovery processes in problem drinkers. The initial K02 award supported her completion of a MPH degree in health care organization and policy. A second award will support additional knowledge acquisition relevant to developing a telehealth intervention for problem drinkers. Her current research is aimed at understanding why most problem drinkers do not seek help and how a subset of them recover on their own. A longer term goal is to devise and evaluate interventions that may appeal to this untreated majority and that better capture the natural forces that support resolution. The candidate is the PI on an R01 award that involves two prospective studies of environmental influences on recovery attempts by problem drinkers with different help-seekng experiences. The research is guided by a behavioral economic analysis of alcohol abuse and is investigating the natural forces that influence recovery pursued through different pathways, the circumstances conducive to help-seeking, and how interventions interact with the recovery process. One study involves an innovative, computerized Interactive Voice Response telephone system to collect daily reports of drinking and environmental variables from untreated problem drinkers who recently stopped drinking abusively. The study will support a fine-grained analysis of the natural resolution process and will provide a measurement technology suitable for telehealth applications with problem drinkers. Such low threshold (and potentially less costly) interventions are needed to increase the diversity and accessibility of services, can be accessed throughout the often lengthy resolution process, and do not require clinic visits, but can facilitate access to them when needed. A second K02 award will support the candidate's acquisition of rapidly emerging, specialized knowledge about telehealth care and will cover topics in health communications, expert systems, telehealth applications and ethics, and tailored interventions for drinking and related high-risk behaviors. Renewal of the ISA would allow Dr. Tucker to continue her current level of research involvement and development and would relieve her from reliance on short term mechanisms of support.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Type
Research Scientist Development Award - Research (K02)
Project #
5K02AA000209-09
Application #
6629527
Study Section
Health Services Research Review Subcommittee (AA)
Program Officer
Hough, John F
Project Start
1996-04-01
Project End
2006-05-31
Budget Start
2003-06-01
Budget End
2004-05-31
Support Year
9
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$122,383
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Alabama Birmingham
Department
Public Health & Prev Medicine
Type
Schools of Public Health
DUNS #
063690705
City
Birmingham
State
AL
Country
United States
Zip Code
35294
Tucker, Jalie A; Foushee, H Russell; Simpson, Cathy A (2009) Increasing the appeal and utilization of services for alcohol and drug problems: what consumers and their social networks prefer. Int J Drug Policy 20:76-84
Tucker, Jalie A; Roth, David L; Vignolo, Mary J et al. (2009) A behavioral economic reward index predicts drinking resolutions: moderation revisited and compared with other outcomes. J Consult Clin Psychol 77:219-28
Tucker, Jalie A; Foushee, H Russell; Simpson, Cathy A (2008) Public perceptions of substance abuse and how problems are resolved: implications for medical and public health services. South Med J 101:786-90
Tucker, Jalie A; Foushee, H Russell; Black, Bethany C (2008) Behavioral economic analysis of natural resolution of drinking problems using IVR self-monitoring. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 16:332-40
Tucker, Jalie A; Foushee, H Russell; Black, Bethany C et al. (2007) Agreement between prospective interactive voice response self-monitoring and structured retrospective reports of drinking and contextual variables during natural resolution attempts. J Stud Alcohol Drugs 68:538-42
Tucker, Jalie A; Vuchinich, Rudy E; Black, Bethany C et al. (2006) Significance of a behavioral economic index of reward value in predicting drinking problem resolution. J Consult Clin Psychol 74:317-26
Tucker, Jalie A; Vuchinich, Rudy E; Rippens, Paula D (2004) A factor analytic study of influences on patterns of help-seeking among treated and untreated alcohol dependent persons. J Subst Abuse Treat 26:237-42
Tucker, Jalie A; Vuchinich, Rudy E; Rippens, Paula D (2004) Different variables are associated with help-seeking patterns and long-term outcomes among problem drinkers. Addict Behav 29:433-9
Tucker, Jalie A (2003) Natural resolution of alcohol-related problems. Recent Dev Alcohol 16:77-90
Tucker, Jalie A; Vuchinich, Rudy E; Rippens, Paula D (2002) Environmental contexts surrounding resolution of drinking problems among problem drinkers with different help-seeking experiences. J Stud Alcohol 63:334-41

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