Tracy O'Leary Tevyaw
Assistant Professor (Rsch):
Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Phone: +1 401 273 7100 x6149
Tracy_O'Leary@Brown.EDU
Our program of research focuses on developing interventions and enhancing existing treatments for reducing drinking and smoking among adolescents, young adults, and college students. Specifically, we are interested in testing the combination of psychosocial interventions, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational interviewing, with approaches such as contingency management, which rely on providing external reinforcement for abstaining from substance use.
Biography
Dr. Tevyaw is Assistant Professor (Research), DPHB and the Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies (CAAS). She is also a clinical psychologist at the Providence VA Medical Center and clinical supervisor of the VA Primary Care rotation, Brown University Clinical Psychology Internship, Behavioral Medicine Track. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from the State University of New York (Albany), completed clinical internship at the Brown University Clinical Psychology Internship Consortium, and completed postdoctoral fellowship in alcohol treatment/early intervention research at CAAS. She was Co-PI for a recently completed NIDA grant comparing the separate and combined effects of contingency management and motivational interviewing (MI) for adolescent smokers and also PI of a NIAAA grant examining peer involvement in MI for reducing hazardous drinking among college students. Dr. Tevyaw's primary clinical research areas include cognitive behavioral therapy, substance use disorders, anxiety disorders, and MI/brief interventions.
Interests
As a clinical psychologist, my research interests center on developing, enhancing, and implementing psychosocial treatments and brief interventions. Over the past 10 years, we have been investigating the efficacy of motivational interviewing (MI) for drinking and smoking among adolescents, young adults, and college students. Our recent work, along with findings from other researchers, suggests that MI is reliably associated with harm reduction, namely, reduced levels of drinking and smoking. However, these harm reduction effects do not appear to lead to sustained abstinence from substances, particularly cigarette smoking. In our current work, we are testing the additive effects of contingency management on MI. Contingency management (CM) is based on operant conditioning principles and promotes decreases in substance use by providing tangible reinforcers contingent on abstinence or reduction to a target level. In our CM research protocol, young adult smokers are offered cash as the alternative, non-drug reinforcer to compete with the reinforcing effect of cigarettes. We hope to replicate findings from adult smoking studies that show CM to result in longer continuous abstinence from cigarettes.
Degrees
PhD
Awards
1989-1993 Full Graduate Scholarship, State University of New York at Albany
1994-1996 Research Fellow, Brown University
July, 1997 Young Investigator Travel Award, Research Society on Alcoholism
June, 1999 Research Excellence Award, Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University
1997-2000 National Research Service Award, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Affiliations
MEMBERSHIP IN SOCIETIES
American Psychological Association (APA)
Division 12, APA (Society for Clinical Psychology)
Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA)
Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT; formerly the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, AABT)
Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT)
Rhode Island Psychological Association (RIPA)
Funded Research
Post-doctoral Research Fellow/Training Award Recipient, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) 5T32 AA07459-14 (R. Longabaugh, PI)
"Alcohol Intervention/Treatment Outcome Research Training" (9/1/97-6/30/00).
Principal Investigator, Research Excellence Award, Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University
"Peer-based Motivational Interviewing for ETOH+ College Students," $14,400 (6/99-12/00).
Principal Investigator, NIAAA R01 AA12319
"Peer-Enhanced Motivational Interviewing for ETOH Misuse," $899,576 (6/01/01-2/28/05).
Co-Principal Investigator and Project Director, NIDA 2 R01 DA11204-06
"Contingency Management and MET for Adolescent Smoking," $3,538,123 (7/1/01-6/30/07).
Co-Investigator, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) R01 grant (S. Colby, PI)
"Smoking Versus Alternative Reinforcers in Adolescents," $1,931,258 (7/1/03-6/30/08).
Co-Investigator, NIAAA R01AA13970 (N. Barnett, PI)
"Naturalistic Influences on Alcohol Problems in College," $3,358, 890 (7/1/03-6/30/08).
Co-Investigator, NIAAA R01 grant (B. Borsari, PI)
"Stepped Care for Mandated College Students," $1,782,500 (6/1/05-5/31/10).
Curriculum Vitae
Download Tracy O'Leary Tevyaw's Curriculum Vitae in PDF Format
