Dr. Martin T. Hall
Associate Professor
Substance use disorders are chronic health conditions associated with harmful personal and societal outcomes, though effective treatments allow many people to experience full recovery.
Dr. Hall’s research is broadly focused on establishing predictors of substance use and developing and evaluating effective interventions. He currently serves as the evaluator for Kentucky’s Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams (START), a child welfare intervention for families with co-occurring substance use and child maltreatment. The START program evaluation is currently funded through the Administration for Children & Families Title IV -E Child Welfare Waiver awarded to the Kentucky Department for Community Based Services. Previous studies of the program have shown that children in families served by START are removed from the home at about half the rate of comparison families. Additionally, a recent study demonstrated that medications for opioid use were associated with improved child welfare outcomes.
Dr. Hall also has a longstanding research interest in the epidemiology of the nonmedical use of prescription drugs, particularly in understudied populations (e.g., rural Appalachians; institutionalized youth; women on probation and parole).
A previous study established distinct subtypes of individuals who report non-medical prescription drug use. Subsequent work described the relationship of psychological distress (e.g., PTSD) and physical health status (e.g., pain symptoms) on nonmedical prescription drug use.