Berkeley Social Welfare Assistant Professor Erin Kerrison has received an award totaling nearly $209,000 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund her investigation into the nature and impact of social networks and social support on substance abuse recovery outcomes for poor Latina, Black and white women.
Titled, "The Effects of Social Networks on Women's Substance Use Disorder Recovery Outcome," the project is a supplement to the parent study, "Neuro Mechanisms in Women's Treatment and Early Recovery," which Dr. Kerrison has been working on with principal investigator and USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work Professor Hortensia Amaro since June 2016. As the co-principal investigator, Dr. Kerrison is taking the lead on the new NIDA-supported project, which aims to "address a gap in the literature where little is known about the intersection between mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) treatment adherence and outcomes and clients' social networks."
Click here for more details about the study.
Additional support for this project is being provided by the Interdisciplinary Research Training Institute on Hispanic Drug Abuse Fellowship and the National Institute on Drug Abuse Diversity Scholars Network Program.
"I am thrilled to launch this work alongside my colleagues in the Latinx Center for Excellence, who are committed to improving health outcomes for Latinx populations in California and beyond," notes Dr. Kerrison.