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Current Cross-Project Analyses
Long-term Drug Use and Cessation
Led by Yih-Ing Hser, Ph.D.
Objective: Map the drug use
trajectories of users whose primary drug type is heroin, cocaine,
or methamphetamine.
Research Questions:
- What are the temporal and dynamic trajectories of drug use
and how can these trajectories be described? Are these
trajectories similar or dissimilar for different drugs?
- How are user characteristics and service system exposure
related to drug use trajectories, with a particular focus on stable
long-term cessation?
- How do these trajectories and relationships compare
across drug types?
Drug Treatment Effects over Time
Led by Yih-Ing Hser, Ph.D.
Objective: Investigate the relationships
of multiple treatment episodes to eventual drug use cessation.
Research Questions:
- What effects are observable across multiple episodes
and different levels of care? Are rates of relapse reduced,
and the rates of transition to eventual cessation over time increased,
by each additional treatment episode?
- What user and service system characteristics are
related to rates of eventual cessation?
- Do rates of crime desistance change in parallel
with rates of drug cessation?
Drug Use Interplay with Criminal Justice
Led by Michael Prendergast, Ph.D.
Objective: Compare drug use trajectories
from first-time clients who entered treatment under criminal justice
system (CJS) coercion and matched cohorts of first-time non-CJS
clients.
Research Questions:
- For clients in CJS treatment and clients in
community treatment, what are the respective temporal and dynamic
trajectories of drug use (e.g., onset, acceleration, regular
use, cessation, and relapse), and how can these trajectories
be described (e.g., rates of acceleration and timing and level
of inflection points) before and after the initial treatment?
- For clients in CJS treatment and clients in community
treatment, how is service system exposure (e.g., drug treatment,
CJS involvement, and participation in self-help) related to drug
use trajectories, with a particular focus on stable long-term
cessation?
- For clients in CJS treatment and clients in community
treatment, how do their drug use trajectories and the impact
of service system exposure compare across primary methamphetamine,
cocaine/crack, and heroin users?
Drug Users with Mental Health Disorders
Led by Christine Grella, Ph.D.
Objective: Better understand the long-term
course of drug use and optimal patterns of treatment utilization
among drug users with co-occurring mental health disorders.
Research Questions:
- What are the temporal and dynamic trajectories
of drug use and of treatment exposure for individuals with and
without co-occurring mental disorders?
- What patterns of treatment exposure and service
mix are associated with deceleration and cessation
of use among individuals with co-occurring drug use and
mental disorders?
- What are dynamic trajectories of drug use and
service system utilization among individuals with different combinations
of substance use and mental disorders?
Substance Use, Mental Health, and HIV Risk
Behaviors
Led by Debra Murphy, Ph.D.
Objective: Investigate trajectories of
drug use and interactions with drug treatment and co-occurring
mental disorders to address whether these factors impact HIV risk
behaviors.
Research Questions:
- Do individuals who have more frequent drug treatment
exposure, longer cumulative treatment duration, and shorter intervals
between treatment exposures, exhibit lower rates of HIV risk
behaviors over time (i.e., effects of cumulative treatment)?
- Do individuals with co-occurring mental disorders, who
in addition to drug treatment are engaged in mental health treatment,
exhibit lower HIV risk behaviors than individuals with co-occurring
mental disorders who are only engaged in drug treatment?
- Do individuals with co-occurring disorders who show
remission of psychiatric symptoms following participation in
drug treatment have lower rates of HIV risk behaviors compared
to those without symptom remission?
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