The goals of this project are to 1) determine which validated bipolar disorder patient-reported symptom measure is most acceptable and helpful to patients and clinicians in clinical care, 2) demonstrate that the preferred measure can be used to monitor outcomes with high fidelity in routine care, and 3) assess the feasibility of comparing effectiveness of measurement-based care (MBC) to usual care in a randomized trial.
Geographic Area: University of Washington
A cluster-randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of the Life Enhancing Alcohol-management Program (LEAP) for Housing First residents
| People experiencing chronic homelessness comprise a small yet high-morbidity, high-cost subset of the larger homeless population and are disproportionately impacted by alcohol-related harm. This study proposes a cluster randomized controlled trial of an innovative, community-based, and client-driven program known as the LEAP to explore its impact on substance use and quality of life outcomes among individuals with lived experience of homelessness and alcohol use problems living in Housing First settings. Analyses will test LEAP effectiveness in increasing engagement in meaningful activities, decreasing alcohol use, ameliorating both first- and secondhand alcohol-related harm, and improving quality of life for this population. |
Modeling patient mutations in iPSC-derived neurons to reveal cellular mechanisms of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a common and devastating neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by genetic heterogeneity. In this project, genes that are disrupted by rare, damaging mutations in individuals with schizophrenia will be evaluated using CRISPRi in iPSCs. Cell lines will be evaluated for phenotypes relevant to schizophrenia. A patient-derived iPSC line will be created that harbors a mutation in one of these genes. This will allow for characterization of the neurobiological consequences of the specific patient mutation in its native genetic background. Families with schizophrenia will be recruited for participation in genetics research to curate a list of genes for future inquiry and collect clinical data that can be used to generate hypotheses about genotype-phenotype connections.
Affective Dynamics Associated with Simultaneous Alcohol and Marijuana Use Outcomes among a High-risk Sample of Young Adults
The proposed F32 aims to conduct a secondary analysis of time-intensive daily data (MPIs: Lee/Patrick; R01AA025037) to elucidate the roles of affect and affective dynamics on simultaneous alcohol and marijuana (SAM) use outcomes among a sample of high-risk adults (N = 409). We will test whether theoretically-relevant affective dynamic processes (affective instability, negative emotion differentiation): (1) are more useful for predicting SAM use and alcohol use than mean level of affect (within- and between-subjects); (2) prospectively predict changes in SAM use and use-related problems over time; and (3) can distinguish SAM use from single substance use patterns, which has direct implications for the personalization and precision of prevention and intervention efforts.
Improving opioid use disorder treatment using contingency management via mHealth
Deaths related to the opioid overdose epidemic remain at an all-time high across the country despite significant efforts to reduce them. There is a pressing need to support medication treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) to help people stay in treatment and reduce the risk of overdose death and other serious health consequences of untreated addiction. Smartphone-based apps can facilitate the delivery of an evidence-based approach called contingency management that incentivizes use of medications for OUD, reduces use of non-prescribed opioids and improves retention in OUD treatment.
This study will leverage a commercially available smartphone app that can bring this much-needed behavioral support to patients receiving OUD treatment in a primary care clinic and in a specialty OUD treatment clinic. The approach offers a potentially non-labor intensive, cost-effective and highly scalable means of delivering OUD care.
Validating a non-invasive imaging method to measure astroglial water transport in brain health and disease
We aim to determine the accuracy and specificity of Arterial spin labeling (ASL) — a non‐invasive perfusion technique used in MRI to track cerebral blood flow — in measuring vascular and glial‐dependent water transfer to establish whether it is a valuable clinical tool in Alzheimer’s disease. This simple and safe technique, already approved for use in a clinical setting, has potential to circumvent current invasive approaches in human subjects at risk for AD‐related dementias.
Estia: computerized intervention targeting cognitive control deficits in depressed adults
Project: EVO (or “EVO”) is a mobile 3D video game that has been shown to reduce older adults’ susceptibility to interference by augmenting sustained attention and working memory abilities (e.g. cognitive control) through targeted adaptive algorithms. The combination of peer-reviewed validity, adaptivity, and fun video game mechanics elevates the EVO platform beyond other at-home training tools while reducing burden associated with tedious task replication. We propose to study EVO as a potential intervention for the treatment of depression, a disorder that worsens medical outcomes, promotes disability, increases expense, and complicates medical care by clouding the clinical picture and undermining treatment adherence.
Sustaining quality
Several recent studies have found that for evidence-based psychosocial interventions (EBPIs) to be delivered more effectively, sustained quality, ongoing supervision, and guidance is critical.
This study will develop an electronic support tool to support quality delivery of PST that is based on clinician feedback. We hypothesize that supporting clinician delivery of EBPIs will result in enhanced quality of treatment and better patient outcomes.
Project SELF
The objective of this research project is to evaluate whether changes in cognitive factors can reduce hazardous drinking among current and graduating college students. These studies seek to evaluate naturalistic (Study 1) and experimentally-induced (Study 2) changes. The naturalistic study is currently following a sample of recent college graduates, with assessments every 4 months, beginning just prior to graduation through the 2-year period after graduation. The experimental study will manipulate the cognitive factors (via narrative writing tasks) to increase self-efficacy, decrease alcohol craving, and ultimately, reduce hazardous drinking.
MC2: Motivating Campus Change
The application was built on our prior intervention trials to further explore conditions under which normative feedback may reduce college drinking. Specifically, we proposed to contrast efficacy of personalized normative feedback (PNF) regarding specific reference groups (i.e., gender-, ethnicity-, and residence-specific feedback) versus a generic (typical college student) reference group, evaluate identification with the normative reference group in moderating efficacy of PNF regarding descriptive drinking norms, and evaluate unique and combined influences of PNF regarding descriptive and injunctive norms on drinking behavior.
