Alcohol Prevention Research on Violence, Equity, and Novel Techniques (A-PREVENT) Training Program

PROJECT ABSTRACT Alcohol misuse is a significant public health issue leading to serious consequences including alcohol use disorder and numerous alcohol-related morbidities. Research has linked increasing levels of alcohol consumption to more than 60 disease conditions. Alcohol consumption is also associated with a broad range of

adverse health and social consequences one of which is interpersonal violence. There are also notable alcohol and violence-related health disparities among individuals from minoritized groups, distinguished by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, refugee status, and intersectionality. To promote health equity,

interventions should target multiple levels of the social ecology as inequities often originate from higher-level societal constructs, such as systemic oppression and social determinants; however, most alcohol and violence prevention studies have targeted one level; seldom is there a focus beyond the individual or on specific health

disparity groups. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism prioritizes addressing alcohol-related health disparities, underscoring the immediate need to train a new wave of prevention scientists. These experts should be adept at developing interventions that span various levels of the social ecology and target

populations most vulnerable. Their training should embody a holistic public health perspective, ensuring they can define problems, pinpoint risk factors, devise prevention measures, roll out strategies on a broad scale, and assess impact. This calls for an interdisciplinary training approach focused on the development and testing

of multilevel interventions and with an examination of effects across intersecting identities. Supported by 20 faculty, the proposed comprehensive pre-doctoral training program (A-PREVENT) encompasses seven training components (coursework, independent research projects, conferences, T32 meetings, community-engaged

research, lecture series, and a F31 independent research project) providing intensive and comprehensive research training in three areas: 1) health equity; 2) designing and implementing multi-level interventions to address the intersection of alcohol and violence prevention as well as its associated co-morbidities; and 3)

innovative methodological and statistical approaches to assess efficacy across multiple levels of the social- ecological model. A-PREVENT will equip a diverse cohort of new prevention researchers with the methodological acumen capable of transformative advances in health equity, and enabling the formulation of

solutions that are both pragmatic and pioneering in addressing health disparities. This advanced, integrated, and innovative training program will not only diversify the biomedical research workforce with our trainees from diverse backgrounds, but also prepare them to develop and evaluate multi-level preventive interventions that

address significant health disparities. We are seeking 6 funded slots, each with 4-5-years of funding, for pre- doctoral students in 2 programs (Public Health and Clinical Psychology).