
The University of New Mexico
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821, scarr@unm.edu sc
January 6, 2006
UNM Psychologist Earns Dan Anderson Research Award for New Computer-based Brief Intervention Program for Problem Drinkers
Reid K. Hester, director of the research division of Behavior Therapy Associates, LLP, and research associate professor in the Psychology Department at UNM, has earned the 2005 Dan Anderson Research Award. Sponsored by the Butler C enter for Research at Hazelden, the award honors a single published article by a researcher who has advanced the scientific knowledge of addiction recovery.
Hester received the award for his study, “The Drinker's Check-up: 12-month outcomes of a controll ed clinical trial of a stand-alone software program for problem drinkers,” published in a 2005 issue (No. 28) of the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment .
The study demonstrated that problem drinkers can be motivated to change their drinking behavior aft er using a unique brief intervention software program called “the Drinker's Check-up” (DCU). Hester developed the DCU through a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
The nine-member Scientific Panel of the Butler Center select ed Hester's research as the best from among several outstanding candidates for Research. He becomes the 10 th recipient of the award and joins past winner Robert J. Meyers, also from UNM, who won the award in 2003.
“I'm honored to join the esteemed company of colleagues who have won this award in the past,” said Hester, who teamed with Daniel D. Squires, Ph.D., and Harold D. Delaney, Ph.D., on the study. “I am grateful for this prestigious award.”
“The Drinker's Check-up helps problem drinkers discover the reasons for changing their drinking within themselves, ” says Hester. “Rather than having pressure put on them from others, the Drinker's Check-up helps problem drinkers resolve their internal ambivalence about whether or not to change.”
Hester's study also demonstrates the role that technology can play in reaching more people with problematic drinking.
The DCU was developed with both a Windows-based program for use by therapists and clinics and with a Web component for use by the general public. It is available at: www.drinkerscheckup.com . For treatment providers, it can be used as a prelude to a patient's more intensive treatment, serving as a catalyst of change for people entering treatment or for those on a waiting list.
However, it may have its greatest potential among the general public, says Hester, given that 16.7 million Americans 12 and older are considered heavy drinkers (bingeing five days a month or more) and only about 10 percent of those people get formal treatment for their problem.
“The DCU is not a replacement for addiction treatment,” says Hester. “It's just one step in the continuum. It looks like it could be a very helpful first step in the process of reducing drinking or quitting altogether.”
Hester will receive the award and a $2,000 honorarium on April 13 at Hazelden's Substance Abuse Research Forum in St. Paul, Minn. The award is named for Dr. Dan Anderson, the former president of Hazelden and one of the major architects of the Minnesota Model, the multidisciplinary approach to addiction treatment that has been replicated worldwide. Anderson died on Feb. 19, 2003 at age 81.
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