Boston University Center for Addictions Research and Services

About Us

The Boston University Center for Addictions Research and Services, based in the School of Social Work (BUSSW), addresses a broad range of addiction issues affecting individuals, families, and communities struggling with substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, and access to substance abuse treatment.

Leadership is provided by Dr. Lena Lundgren, Director, Dr. Melvin Delgado, Co-Director and Dr. Maryann Amodeo, Co-Director, all nationally recognized in the field of addiction. Their combined expertise has resulted in a record of high quality research, dissemination of research findings through publications and conference presentations, and an array of community innovations and interventions.

The Center’s primary components are: (1) research and evaluation, (2) consultation on clinical services and programming, (3) community development and prevention, and (4) training and education.

A. 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 quantitative 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

B. Consultation on Clinical Services and Programming

The Center's consultation on clinical services and programming focuses on the needs of substance abuse agencies and methods for improving client care. Areas include:

Helping addiction agencies adopt evidence-based treatment practices

Culturally-responsive substance abuse treatment

Development of logic models to guide service delivery

Designing improved assessment methods and individualized treatment plans

Measurement of client outcomes

Refining the methods and focus of clinical and administrative supervision

Consultation Capability: The Center has the capacity to work with a range of treatment programs including inpatient, outpatient, residential, and methadone settings. Consultation is available on the delivery of services to individuals, groups, families, and special populations such as adolescents, pregnant and parenting women, racial/ethnic minorities, and the elderly.

Center consultation to treatment agencies has included activities such as the following:

Examination and restructuring of group treatment methods
Redesign of intake and assessment procedures
Integration of methods for assisting dually-diagnosed clients
Record-keeping methods for ensuring that treatment plans respond to needs identified at intake and assessment
Development of an agency treatment philosophy and procedures for implementing it
Formation and support of consumer advisory committees
Integration of evidence-based treatment methods such as Motivational Interviewing
Development of staff guidelines for non-compliant clients
Parameters for deciding on the use of individual counseling, group treatment, family intervention, and other clinical methods
Methods for increasing client access and retention

C. Program Development and Community Development

The Center's community development and prevention services focus on empowering communities, coalitions and grass roots organizations by helping them build capacity to address substance abuse and HIV/AIDS problems in ways that are compatible with their culture, physical environment, membership, and goals. Areas include:

Community asset assessments focusing on unidentified resources and supports within neighborhoods and communities
Engagement of informal helping networks such as religious groups, herbalists, beauty parlors, pharmacies and grocery stores to implement prevention activities
Utilization of a Positive Youth Development approach in engaging youth to build community strength
Use of community murals, quilts, theater, and other group activities to assist in healing from violence, disease, trauma and loss

Community Development and Prevention Capability: The Center has the capacity to work with communities to reduce substance abuse problems and increase wellness through activities such as coalition building, advocacy, and conflict resolution. Center community development and consultation activities have included the following:

Working with school systems to help them utilize natural support systems for Latino high-risk youth
Training youth to undertake community-based needs assessments and other types of research
Methods for working with refugee and immigrant youth
Increasing the capacity of jails, prisons, probation departments, and parole systems to respond to the needs of prisoners of color
Culturally competent research and practice with Latino elders
Culturally competent substance abuse prevention and treatment

D. Training and Education

The Center's training and education services are available to a range of organizations and programs. Courses focus on substance abuse and mental health work with individuals, families, and groups. Examples of services:

On-site training for health, mental health, and social service agencies
On-site courses for staff of substance abuse treatment programs including inpatient, outpatient, recovery home, and methadone settings.

Customized courses for child welfare staff, youth workers, foreign language interpreters, community health workers, and street outreach workers

Training and Education Capability: The Center has the capacity to provide staff training and deliver courses to a range of human service organizations, both traditional and nontraditional. Methods include co-designing courses with program administrators and staff to ensure a fit between content and agency needs, and providing training to program staff so they can teach their peers. Center training and education activities have included the following:

Examples of topics for health, mental health and social service staff

Drugs of abuse
Interviewing, assessment, and diagnosis
Assessing risks to children when parents are addicted
Working with elderly substance abusers
Engaging adolescents and parents in substance abuse treatment

Examples of topics for addiction agency staff

Leading treatment groups
Relapse prevention
Working with trauma in early abstinence
Culturally competent care
Prioritizing treatment goals with dually-diagnosed clients
Case management
Record keeping
Using the DSM IV
Stages of Change and Motivational Interviewing
Harm reduction approaches

Examples of customized courses

Substance abuse prevention methods for Haitian adolescent peer-educators
Responding to trauma in substance-abusing women for Latino recovery home staff
Understanding drug and alcohol issues for foreign language interpreters
Motivational Interviewing for outreach workers counseling HIV positive clients
Training of Trainers Courses