Funded Projects

Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are at heightened risk for harmful drinking, including alcohol use disorder (AUD). Intense emotional distress is part of the daily life of those with PTSD, and many with PTSD report drinking in response to such stress. How people respond to this emotional distress depends on the environmental context in which such distress occurs. Those environments that provide exposure to ecological drinking cues, such as alcohol outlets (e.g., bars, liquor stores) or personally relevant locations that are associated with drinking (e.g., favorite drinking locations) will be more likely to lead to drinking, particularly during moments of emotional distress. Importantly, environmental contexts are not static, but vary across individuals and across time. As such, it is essential to consider the dynamic ways in which individuals interact with their environments. This includes dimensions such as time spent in alcohol environments, and how this time coincides with internal mood states (stress). Geospatial technology affords the opportunity to characterize dynamic patterns of environmental influence. With the rapid widespread adoption of “smart phones” in the U.S. public, accurate assessments of multiple dimensions of environmental influence are possible. Yet, no studies have applied geospatial technologies to understand drinking risk in the daily life of individual with PTSD. This is the objective of the proposed study. Specifically, in this study, we seek to provide preliminary feasibility data using smartphone technology with daily ecological momentary assessments of stress and PTSD symptoms and GIS technology (continuous monitoring) of contextual factors that influence drinking vulnerability in response to these psychological states. Findings pertaining to in-the-moment processes that may lead to drinking in those with PTSD can be incorporated into “just-in-time” adaptive interventions that deliver feedback via text message in a m