Hester earns Dan Anderson Research Award for new computer-based brief intervention program for problem drinkers

Center City, Minn. (Jan. 9, 2006) -- Reid K. Hester, Ph.D., director of the research division of Behavior Therapy Associates, LLP, and research associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, has earned the 2005 Dan Anderson Research Award. Sponsored by the Butler Center 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 controlled 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 after 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.
 
"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."
 
In his study, 61 heavy drinkers were randomly assigned to the DCU or a wait-list control group. The DCU is a computer-based brief motivational intervention based on Motivational Enhancement Therapy. Its Assessment Module measures drinking, risk factors, consequences, dependence, and readiness for change. The Feedback Module gives personalized feedback in a low-key manner designed to minimize resistance. In the Decision Making Module, participants are guided through a decisional balance exercise and a negotiation of goals of change and are helped to develop a Change Plan.
 
Twelve months after completing the DCU, drinkers who continued to drink reduced their drinking, on average, by 50 percent; average weekly peak blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) were down 55 percent; alcohol-related problems declined by 50 percent; and symptoms of dependence declined by 51 percent. Ten percent of the subjects stopped drinking entirely.
 
"Our Scientific Panel (which selected the award winner) believes Dr. Hester's work is timely, innovative, and creative," said Valerie Slaymaker, Ph.D., director of the Butler Center for Research. "For those problem drinkers who are not necessarily alcohol dependent, the DCU helps them significantly reduce their drinking and related consequences. For those with alcohol dependence, the program can also help in increasing their motivation to seek treatment and attend self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous."
 
"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. Adds Slaymaker: "The panel believes Dr. Hester's work is particularly timely given the recent report from the Institute of Medicine on improving the quality of care for those with substance use disorders. The IOM calls for expansion of care to include the use of technology."
 
The DCU was developed with both a Windows program for use by therapists and clinics and with a Web component for use by the general public at http://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, MN.  The award is named for Dan Anderson, Ph.D., 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.
 
Hester's research was selected as the best from among several outstanding candidates by the nine-member Scientific Panel of the Butler Center for Research. The panel includes Slaymaker; Dennis Donovan, Ph.D., University of Washington; Carlton Erickson, Ph.D., University of Texas-Austin; James McKay, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania; A. Thomas McLellan, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania; Timothy Sheehan, Ph.D., Hazelden; Candice Walker, Ph.D., Hazelden; Constance Weisner, Ph.D., University of California-San Francisco; and Ken Winters, Ph.D., University of Minnesota.
 
Past award winners include Stephanie O'Malley, Ph.D., Yale University School of Medicine; Howard A. Liddle, Ed.D., University of Miami; Robert J. Meyers, Ph.D., University of New Mexico; Bankole Johnson, M.D., University of Texas Health Science Center; Henri Begleiter, Ph.D., State University of New York; Richard Longabaugh, Ed.D., Brown University; Dace Svikis, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University; Michael Fiore, M.D., University of Wisconsin; and Stephen T. Higgins, Ph.D., University of Vermont.
 
Recognizing outstanding research and conducting research of its own are the primary objectives of the Butler Center for Research, the research arm of Hazelden.