AMHRL

The Addiction and Mental Health Research Lab (AMHRL) was established in 2000 and supports programs of research on psychosocial aspects of addiction and mental health.

Lab projects adopt an interdisciplinary population health approach and include prevalence studies, secondary interventions, phenomenological and ethnographic methods, psychometrics and randomized controlled trials. The strong community focus of our research involves collaboration and knowledge mobilization (Know Mo) with health policy makers, health practitioners, and other stakeholders outside the research arena.

AMHRL completed the Gap Analysis of Public Mental Health and Addictions Programs (GAP-MAP) for Alberta Health, which was the first ever comprehensive enumeration and costing of all Alberta addiction and mental health services funded by the province.

Current work includes Phase 2 of a three-part program of studies to develop an omnibus screener of substance and behavioural addictions. This involves collaborating with a consortium of researchers at the Universities of Calgary, Lethbridge and Ottawa. In addition, the fifth iteration of Alberta data collection for the Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drugs Survey (formerly Youth Smoking Survey) is underway. This is a biennial survey funded by Health Canada that gathers information from students in grade 6 through 12 from 30 schools across the province. Finally, data collection is underway with interviews of 350 inner-city injection drug users for the Edmonton Drug Use and Health Survey as part of a project funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research on evidence-based harm reduction policy.

P: 780-492-6752
E: cam.wild@ualberta.ca