Hang Hai
Tulane University of Louisiana, LA·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career
Substance use and alcohol problems often go untreated, especially among groups who rarely use traditional support services. This research focuses on building accessible, technology-based behavioral interventions for two such groups.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Psychology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
substance use disorder
people with HIV
virtual reality
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through May 2029
What they work on
- Co-design, with community partners, an orientation video that walks users through setting up and using the TRIPP virtual reality mindfulness app, to reduce barriers such as limited technology literacy.
- Pilot test TRIPP, a VR mindfulness program, with 30 people with HIV and substance use who use it 3–5 times weekly for four weeks, measuring acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility, recruitment and retention.
- Hold focus groups with trial participants and clinical staff to gather feedback that will guide future adaptation of the TRIPP VR mindfulness intervention.
- Adapt 12-Step Facilitation, a program that encourages Alcoholics Anonymous involvement, for Hispanic young adults with alcohol use disorder by adding content on contextual drivers of drinking and updating its language, guided by qualitative research.
- Convert the tailored 12-Step Facilitation program into a smartphone app (eTSF) to improve access and scalability, preparing for a fully powered randomized trial.
More about the research
The first is people living with HIV who also use substances. The second is Hispanic young adults with alcohol use disorder. Both projects take an existing approach with research support, a mindfulness program or a 12-step program. They adapt it with input from the community and deliver it through consumer technology: a virtual reality headset or a smartphone app.
Why it matters
People living with HIV who use substances tend to stay in HIV care less and have worse treatment outcomes. Hispanic young adults with alcohol use disorder rarely use recovery support. Low-cost interventions delivered through VR headsets or smartphone apps could reach these groups more easily than in-person programs. Such tools may help people keep up mindfulness practice, engage with 12-step recovery, and improve their alcohol, drug and HIV-related health.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Andre Miguel
Washington State University, WA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether rural smokers with alcohol use disorder who receive varenicline plus app-based contingency management submit more breathalyzer samples showing alcohol abstinence and non-heavy drinking days than those using a control app.
Abigail Batchelder
Boston University, MA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Test whether the MATTER intervention, five virtual therapy sessions plus personalized texting and resource navigation, improves viral suppression at 12 months compared with a time-matched control, in a randomized controlled trial of 256 people with HIV and substance use disorders.
Karen Barrett
University of California-San Francisco, CA·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Standardize a prototype improvisation music therapy intervention designed for the pair of a person living with dementia and their care partner, using the NIH Stage Model and Science of Behavioral Change frameworks.
The school
Tulane University of Louisiana: 17 labs on PI Pages, $276M a year on research, 187 research doctorates a year.
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