Drs. Montgomery and Stewart publish sexual risk reduction among rural African American cocaine users

Dr. Katharine Stewart recently celebrated with one of her former students, Dr. Brooke E. E. Montgomery, as the third manuscript from Dr. Montgomery’s dissertation was accepted for publication. Dr. Montgomery’s doctoral research was supported by a predoctoral fellowship from NIDA (F31 DA026286) and focused on the role of various characteristics of religion (religious practice, religious support, and religious coping) in sexual risk and drug use behaviors among African American cocaine users living in rural Arkansas. Her research was part of a larger project led by Dr. Stewart and funded by NIDA (R01 DA024575) which tested a behavioral intervention to reduce sexual risk in this population. Dr. Montgomery found a high level of participation in a variety of religious activities in this community, as well as a strong sense of support from God and some church leaders. Her research concluded that, despite perceptions that active substance users may be disengaged or disenfranchised from religion, religious faith and participation in a religious community are critically important to this population, and that although most aspects of religion were not associated with sexual risk for participants in her study, these factors did have some association both with drug use and mental health status. Dr. Montgomery currently serves as Assistant Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education at the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. As a new faculty member in the Department of Public Health Sciences, Dr. Stewart is looking forward to future opportunities to collaborate with faculty and students at UNCC.

Publications from Dr. Montgomery’s dissertation include:

Montgomery, B.E.E., Stewart, K.E., Yeary, K.H.K., & Ounpraseuth, S. (in press). Adaptation and psychometric testing of multiple dimensions of religion for African American substance users. Journal of Black Psychology.

Montgomery, B.E.E., Stewart, K.E., Yeary, K.H.K., Cornell, C., Pulley, L., Corwyn, R., & Ounpraseuth, S. (2014). Religiosity and sexual risk behaviors among African American cocaine users in the rural South. Journal of Rural Health, 30, 284-291. (Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jrh.12059/abstract)

Montgomery, B.E.E., Stewart, K.E., Bryant, K.J., & Ounpraseuth, S. (2014). Dimensions of religion, depression, and substance use among rural African American cocaine users. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 13(1), 72-90. (Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15332640.2014.873605#.VEZRnvldVos)

Additional publications from the larger study include:

Gullette, D.L., Booth, B.M., Wright, P.B., Montgomery, B.E.E., & Stewart, K.E. (2014). Sexual sensation seeking, unprotected sex, and transactional sex among rural African American cocaine users. Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 25(4), 289-296 (Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jana.2013.07.008)

Stewart, K.E., Wright, P.B., Sims, D., Tyner, K.R., Montgomery, B.E.E. (2012). The “translators”: Engaging former drug users as key research staff to design and implement a risk reduction program for rural cocaine users. Substance Use and Misuse, 47(5), 547-554. (Available at: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/10826084.2011.644379)

Montgomery, B.E.E, Stewart, K.E., Wright, P.B., McSweeney, J.C., & Booth, B.M. (2012). “We as drug addicts need that program”: Insight from rural African American cocaine users on designing a sexual risk reduction intervention for their community. Substance Use and Misuse. 47(1). 44-55. (Available at: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/10826084.2011.628734)