Research Experience

Background

I am working with Dr. Ben Lewis on my project entitled, Age-Related Differences in Pain and Sleep among Individuals in Treatment for Substance Use Disorders. I have been working as a Research Assistant in the Florida Recovery Center Laboratory since May 2023, so for almost 1.5 years now. This project began as an idea in the fall of 2023, and took shape in the following spring.

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Project Focus

Using our ongoing databank, there are many different avenues to explore substance use disorders. However, I noticed in the existing literature that chronic pain and disrupted sleep have gained considerable attention regarding their import in recovery from substance use disorders (SUDs). These conditions may function as both precursors and consequences of heavy substance use and are increasingly recognized as risk factors for relapse. Simultaneously, I saw that the number of older adults admitted to SUD treatment has increased by ~200% over the last decade, demonstrating the need to consider evolving patterns of substance use with aging populations. When I considered that the prevalence of pain and sleep problems are substantively higher among older community-dwelling adults, it motivated me to combine my interests in pain and sleep disturbance with the older population.

It remains unknown whether pain and disrupted sleep confer unique risks among older adults in SUD recovery. In addition, the increase in prescription medications to treat medical conditions in older adults poses a challenge for treating this population for substance use disorders. Clinicians and researchers must consider the consider the combination of geriatric and addiction medicine as the need for treatment options in this age group is imperative. No currently available data address susceptibility, trajectories of pain/sleep improvement, or relationships with treatment outcomes among older adults in recovery from SUDs.

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​Project Responsibilities

Participants will include patients at the UF Health Florida Recovery Center (FRC). The FRC Research Lab houses an ongoing, de-identified databank that includes data collected from patient assessments conducted at admission, after ~30 days of treatment, and at discharge. Assessments include sleep quality (PSQI), pain intensity (NIH PROMIS), craving (PACS), and abstinence self-efficacy (AASE/DASE). We will create two matched samples of older (age 55+) and younger (age 30-40) adults using propensity scores generated from demographic variables (e.g., gender; socioeconomic status). Primary analyses will be conducted using longitudinal mixed models. Results from this study will provide novel, actionable information towards improving quality of care among older adults, development of novel interventions targeting sleep and/or pain, and efforts to reduce early treatment cessation and post-discharge relapse.

Furthermore, depending on my initial results, I plan to expand my project’s findings, potentially by using a cross-lagged panel model to further understand the directionality of relationships between pain, sleep, and substance craving. I have spent extra time in the lab learning statistical analyses in R coding, enabling me to lead the data analysis for my project. Ultimately, I will submit a manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal before graduation.

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