Principal Investigator / PhD Candidate: Gerald Cochran
Faculty Mentors: Kirk von Sternberg, Ph.D.; Diana DiNitto, Ph.D.
Alcohol misuse is the primary risk factor for injury in the United States, and health care providers are positioned to deliver alcohol interventions to individuals admitted to health care facilities for injury treatment. Gerald “Jerry” Cochran’s dissertation, funded with a $42,000 dissertation research award from AHRQ, uses latent variable statistical modeling of data from a clinical trial conducted in a Level-1 trauma center to identify profiles of patients who experienced the greatest benefit from Screening and Brief Interventions (SBI) for alcohol. A better understanding about which injured patients respond best to SBI will increase the ability of policymakers, health care administrators, and clinicians to make potentially necessary changes to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of medical centers delivering SBI services to injured patients. Drs. Kirk von Sternberg and Diana DiNitto are co-chairs of Jerry’s dissertation committee.