Stanford Psychiatry’s Karen Osilla awarded grant using ecological momentary data to support romantic partners concerned about their loved ones’ drinking

We are pleased to announce that Stanford Psychiatry’s Karen Osilla, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, has received a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Alcohol misuse negatively affects relationships and is significantly correlated with higher rates of relationship conflict, distress, and dissolution as well as other serious negative interpersonal consequences. Encouragement from concerned partners is a common motivator for those who misuse alcohol to pursue care, and often the most helpful mechanism in supporting change.

Dr. Osilla’s project will identify specific behaviors enacted by concerned partners that relate to increases and decreases in their partner’s drinking behaviors using ecological momentary data collection; use that information to develop a web-based intervention to support concerned partners; and evaluate the success of this intervention in reducing drinking and related problems.

“Intervening with concerned partners has strong potential to change relationship dynamics that may reduce problems and prevent future problems associated with drinking. It also develops a new prevention model that does not rely on the drinking partner attending a clinical facility to access care,” says Dr. Osilla. “Teaching concerned partners to effectively communicate their concerns may be a necessary catalyst for decreasing their partner’s alcohol use and preventing alcohol use disorders. The potential reach of this intervention is large such that it can be easily implemented over the web to those who may need help but would not otherwise seek care.”

Dr. Osilla conducts health services research with a focus on delivering substance use services to underserved populations using innovative solutions that decrease health access disparities. Recent publications related to Dr. Osilla’s work include “Study design to evaluate a web-intervention to prevent alcohol and cannabis-impaired driving and use among adolescents in driver education” published in Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, and “It takes a village: A pilot study of a group telehealth intervention for support persons affected by opioid use disorder” published in the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment.
 

More Information

Read more details about the project on NIH RePORTER.