Erin Veronica Kelly

The University of Sydney · Medicine and Health

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) are prevalent disorders that often co-occur. SAD onset typically precedes that of AUD, and co-occurrence of the two disorders is associated with greater symptom severity than either condition alone. This chapter reviews current evidence about psychological treatment of co-occurring SAD an...

Background Addressing aggressive behavior in adolescence is a key step toward preventing violence and associated social and economic costs in adulthood. This study examined the secondary effects of the personality-targeted substance use preventive program Preventure on aggressive behavior from ages 13 to 20. Methods In total, 339 young people from...

Background: Internalizing and externalizing personality traits are robust risk factors for substance use and mental health, and personality-targeted interventions are effective in preventing substance use and mental health problems in youth. However, there is limited evidence for how personality relates to other lifestyle risk factors, such as ene...

Mental disorders have significant impact on the health and well-being of young people in Australia and worldwide. Intervention during adolescence is critical for reducing immediate harm and preventing the development of chronic mental disorders. This paper describes the protocol for a randomised controlled trial designed to evaluate the effectivene...

Importance Alcohol consumption is one of the leading preventable causes of burden of disease worldwide. Selective prevention of alcohol use can be effective in delaying the uptake and reducing harmful use of alcohol during the school years; however, little is known about the durability of these effects across the significant transition from early a...

Background and objectives: A wealth of research has identified adverse childhood experiences (ACEs; abuse, neglect, violence or disorder in the home) as a strong risk factor for substance misuse. Synthesis of the existing evidence is critical to shape policy and inform directions for future research. Existing reviews have focused on specific subst...

Objective: To assess the efficacy of a selective, personality-targeted intervention for reducing suicidal ideation in adolescents. Design: Post hoc analysis of survey data collected in the Climate and Preventure (CAP) study, a cluster randomised controlled trial that compared strategies for reducing alcohol misuse by adolescents, 2012-2015. Set...

Background: Child abuse and neglect have consistently been identified as major risk factors for subsequent mental health problems. However, research has overwhelmingly focused on physical or sexual abuse at the expense of neglect, especially emotional neglect, despite evidence for serious consequences for development. The current study aimed to exa...

Background: Childhood traumas are known risk factors for subsequent mental health problems. However, research is conducted in silos, with exposures such as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs; e.g. abuse, neglect, household violence/mental illness), community violence, and peer victimisation examined separately. Given accumulating evidence that the...

Background Anxiety and alcohol use disorders are common and disabling conditions that people typically endure for many years before accessing treatment. The link between anxiety and alcohol use is well-established, with these issues commonly emerging and/or escalating during emerging adulthood. This randomized controlled trial evaluated a psycholog...

Objective This study examined the secondary mental health outcomes of two contrasting alcohol prevention approaches, whereby one intervention targets common underlying personality risk for alcohol use and mental health problems ( Preventure) and the other targets alcohol- and drug-related behaviours and cognitions ( Climate Schools). Methods A 2 ×...

Background: The transition to adulthood is a unique developmental period characterized by numerous personal and social role changes and increased opportunities for alcohol consumption. Using alcohol to cope with anxiety symptoms is commonly reported, and young people with anxiety are at a greater risk of hazardous alcohol use and progression to alc...

Objective: To examine the secondary effects of a personality-targeted intervention on bullying and harms among adolescent victims and bullies. Method: Outcomes were examined for victims and bullies in the Climate and Preventure study, Australia. Participants completed self-report measures at baseline and four follow-up assessments (6, 12, 24, an...

BACKGROUND The transition from adolescence to adulthood is a unique developmental period, characterized by numerous personal and social role changes, and increased opportunities for alcohol consumption. Using alcohol to cope with anxiety symptoms is commonly reported, and young people who experience anxiety are at greater risk of hazardous alcohol...

Abstract Background The Climate and Preventure (CAP) study was the first trial to assess and demonstrate the effectiveness of a combined universal and selective approach for preventing alcohol use and related harms among adolescents. The current paper reports universal effects from the CAP study on cannabis-related outcomes over three years. Method...

Objective: This study aimed to examine whether high-risk personality dimensions increased susceptibility to bullying victimisation and perpetration among Australian adolescents. Method: Longitudinal cohort study of 527 secondary school students in Australia (baseline average age = 13 years, 67% female and 93% Australian-born). Bullying was measu...

Background: No existing models of alcohol prevention concurrently adopt universal and selective approaches. This study aims to evaluate the first combined universal and selective approach to alcohol prevention. Method: A total of 26 Australian schools with 2190 students (mean age: 13.3 years) were randomized to receive: universal prevention (Cli...

Background: This study investigated the long-term effectiveness of Preventure, a selective personality-targeted prevention program, in reducing the uptake of alcohol, harmful use of alcohol, and alcohol-related harms over a 3-year period. Methods: A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted to assess the effectiveness of Preventure. Scho...

Adolescence is a vulnerable time for both substance use and bullying involvement; however, there is limited research on substance use among adolescent victims of bullying. This study aimed to examine concurrent and prospective associations between bullying and substance use, differentiating between passive-victims, bully-victims and 'pure' bullies....

Introduction: A school-based, personality-targeted, coping skills intervention known as Preventure has demonstrated significant preventative effects on substance use and substance-related problems amongst adolescents with high-risk personality types. This study examines the indirect effects of Preventure on bullying victimisation and perpetration a...

Introduction and Aims. Clients of drug and alcohol treatment services represent a high-risk group for attempted and completed suicide. The current study sought to examine suicide risk assessment practices in Australian generalist residential rehabilitation services. Design and Methods. Semistructured interviews were conducted with managers of resid...

Aim: To validate the street terminology used to describe the various forms of methamphetamine used in Australia, namely 'speed' (powder methamphetamine), 'base' (a damp or oily product) and 'crystal meth' or 'ice' (crystalline methamphetamine). Materials and Methodology: Regular methamphetamine users (N = 309) were asked which form of methamphetami...

To identify the sociodemographic, health, drug use patterns, treatment coverage and barriers to treatment among regular methamphetamine users in rural and regional North Coast of New South Wales. A structured questionnaire was used to measure sociodemographic factors, health and well-being, drug use patterns, methamphetamine dependence, engagement...

The market for domestically produced methamphetamine in Australia (sold as ‘speed’ and ‘base’) has been recently supplemented with imported crystalline methamphetamine (‘ice’ or ‘crystal’), the supply of which is thought to involve different organized crime groups than those involved with domestic supply. The existence, or otherwise, of distinct re...

To compare the characteristics and harms associated with injecting and smoking methamphetamine among methamphetamine treatment entrants. A structured face-to-face interview was used to assess demographics, drug use patterns and harms [physical and mental health, psychological distress, psychotic symptoms, crime and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV...

To examine the extent of physical health impairment among a community sample of methamphetamine users in comparison with the general population, and factors associated with impairment among this group. A cross-sectional survey of 309 regular methamphetamine users from Sydney. The Physical Component Scale of the Short Form 12 (SF-12) was used to mea...

Australia has a sizable population of dependent methamphetamine users, the majority of whom do not receive treatment for their drug use. The aim of the current study was to identify socio-demographic factors related to not having received treatment for methamphetamine use among dependent users of the drug in Sydney, Australia. A cross-sectional sur...

The aim of the current study was to determine whether crystalline methamphetamine users are more dependent on methamphetamine than people who use other forms of the drug, and if so, whether this could be accounted for by their methamphetamine use history. A structured face-to-face interview was used to assess drug use patterns and demographics amon...

The purpose of this study was to examine the types of treatment services provided for amphetamine use, the characteristics of amphetamine treatment clients and the geographic areas most affected by amphetamine treatment provision within New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Data on completed amphetamine treatment episodes were extracted from the NSW Mi...

The existing literature on the prevalence of drug driving, the effects of drugs on driving performance, risk factors and risk perceptions associated with drug driving was reviewed. The 12-month prevalence of drug driving among the general population is approximately 4%. Drugs are detected commonly among those involved in motor vehicle accidents, wi...

To examine the prevalence of drug driving, the prevalence of drug-related motor vehicle accidents, risk perceptions of drug driving and factors associated with drug driving among injecting drug users (IDU). Cross-sectional survey. Sydney, Australia. Three hundred current IDU. Ninety-five per cent had driven a vehicle, 74% in the previous 12 months...