Increasing collaboration and translation in epidemiology and intervention research.

Abstract

Epidemiologic research serves as an important foundation for intervention research. In this way, it can contribute to vast improvements in public health. However, to fully capitalize on what is learned through epidemiology, collaborations must ensure the translation of epidemiologic findings into both treatment and prevention interventions. This commentary suggests some ways in which epidemiology can inform intervention research and how intervention research can be backtranslated so that epidemiological studies are designed to better inform intervention design. The commentary does this by using as examples the original contributions in this special section on the intergenerational transmission of cannabis use. These studies identify several ways in which epidemiology can inform intervention and discuss mechanisms of risk transmission from one generation to the next, such as parental monitoring, parent norms around substance use or parenting strategies, poor inhibitory control, or perceptions of harm from substance use. Targeting these mechanisms could be important for effective intervention. The papers further explore factors that might mitigate or amplify the association between parental and offspring use of cannabis, such as active coping or harsh parenting. Finally, to ensure bridging between substance abuse epidemiology and intervention research, this article considers research training practices.

Toward a generalized developmental model of psychopathological liabilities and psychiatric disorders

“…Trans-diagnostic interventions that target related disorders may have fairly robust effects (Barlow et al, 2017). At the same time, because the etiology of disorders is multifactorial, addressing a single risk factor (or a limited number of them) is likely to have limited effects at the population level (Blanco, Wall, & Olfson, 2021b; Etz, Goldstein, Lopez, & Blanco, 2020). These findings are consistent with the results of universal preventive interventions, which have often detected small effects (Arango et al, 2018).…”

Introduction to the special section on the intergenerational transmission of risk for substance use.

“…Finally, an important element of the call for papers was a request for greater attention to the prevention implications of the findings of intergenerational studies than is typical in etiological research reports. We encouraged this prevention emphasis by explicitly asking the investigative teams to speculate further than they normally would regarding prevention issues and by inviting two groups of substance use prevention scholars (Etz, Goldstein, Lopez, & Blanco, 2020; Haggerty & Carlini, 2020) to offer prevention-oriented commentaries.…”