Title: Piloting Signs of Safety: A Deaf-Accessible Therapy Toolkit for Alcohol Use Disorder and Trauma
Dates: 8/12/2018-7/31/2021
Funder: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Funding: $722,343
PI: Melissa Anderson, Ph.D.

Description

The U.S. Deaf community – a group of more than 500,000 Americans who communicate using American Sign Language (ASL) – experiences nearly triple the rate of lifetime problem drinking and twice the rate of trauma exposure compared to the general population. Although there are validated treatments for alcohol use disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in hearing populations, there are no evidence-based treatments for any behavioral health condition for use with Deaf clients. To address these barriers, our team developed Signs of Safety, a Deaf-accessible therapy toolkit for treating alcohol use disorder and PTSD. Our proposed aims are to conduct a two-arm pilot randomized controlled trial of Signs of Safety and to collect data on feasibility, preliminary clinical outcomes, and potential mediators and moderators of outcome.