Research and Evaluation
The Center’s research focuses on substance abuse issues affecting individuals, families, and communities. Research areas include:
- Role of substance abuse treatment in preventing HIV/AIDS
- Identifying patterns of service utilization among substance users
- Factors affecting access to substance abuse treatment
- Parental substance abuse and effects on children
- Methadone maintenance and other medically assisted treatments
- Racial/ethnic disparities in substance abuse treatment
- Assessment of outcomes in substance abuse training
- Influence of acculturation on use/abuse of alcohol and other drugs
- Substance abuse and co-occurring psychiatric disorders
Research Capability
The Center has the capacity to undertake both quantitative and qualitative research, conduct statewide multi-site evaluations as well as evaluations of single-site community-level programs, develop and examine statewide and national data bases, and analyze both survey and MIS data.
Center studies have included activities such as the following:
- Utilization of standardized instruments and development of new targeted questionnaires
- Training and supervision of community workers as interviewers
- Training and supervision of staff engaged in client tracking
- Translation of instruments into Spanish
- Telephone screening of subjects for community studies with disguised questions to ensure subjects are blind to the purpose of the research
- Involvement of consumers in planning and implementing research
- Developing appropriate sampling designs
- Cleaning and merging of large data bases
- Training on IRB regulations and completion of IRB applications