Kristina Phillips
Assistant Professors
Degree: Ph.D., 2005, Bowling Green State University, Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Medicine
My Area of Interest
I would describe my primary research interests as the application of public health and behavioral medicine to the treatment of substance abuse. I believe that it is important to assist clients reduce the unhealthy medical, psychological, and social outcomes of drug use. I strongly identify with a harm reduction approach that focuses on preventing and treating the consequences or effects of addictive behavior, rather than only the drug use itself. Most recently, my specific research program has focused on the prevention of infectious disease among injection drug users. I am interested in the development of brief interventions that utilize harm reduction strategies to decrease risk of HIV, hepatitis, and other health complications associated with injection drug use. The long-term objective of this proposed line of research is to conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a harm reduction-oriented intervention to reduce skin and bacterial infections (e.g., abscesses, cellulitis, endocarditis) among drug injectors (primarily heroin users). While there has been a good amount of research dedicated to HIV and Hepatitis C among injectors, there is a limited research base on bacterial infections, despite these infections being a very common problem and a leading cause of hospitalization in this population.
Furthermore, I also have strong research interests in harm reduction self-efficacy and brief motivational interviewing and cognitive-behavioral interventions. My research program will continue to focus more broadly on the prevention of drug-related harm. One of my long-term goals is to expand my work to include the application of a harm reduction approach to different types of substance users and non-injectors (e.g., methamphetamine, crack cocaine, and alcohol abusers).
My Teaching Philosophy
My approach to teaching psychology is one that has a foundation in the development of critical thinking skills, application of learned principles to daily life, and active student participation. My understanding of how students learn is based on learning theory, personal experience and observation. It is my belief that students attend to and process information based on their interest in the subject, their prior knowledge and understanding, their values and attitudes, and their motivation. Most importantly, I feel that an instructor’s teaching style can have a tremendous impact in sparking a student’s interest and motivation. I primarily teach courses that have clinical application, such as Abnormal Psychology and Introduction to Counseling Theories. I frequently utilize case study examples, student projects and non-lecture based experiences to show students how psychological knowledge can be applied to everyday life. Because I believe that students learn in different formats, I like to integrate alternative media into my courses. For example, I like to use Powerpoint when lecturing to give students a visual cue and have found that showing videos are an excellent way to demonstrate psychological concepts and frameworks. I also believe that students should explore other sources of information for assignments, such as the internet, journals or experts in the field.
Students interested in gaining research experience in the area of addictions or disease prevention should contact me by email.
My Latest Professional Activity
- Phillips, K.T., & Rosenberg, H. (2007). Use of harm reduction strategies to prevent biomedical harm among opiate injectors in treatment. Manuscript submitted.
- Phillips, K.T., & Stein, M.D. (2007). Predictors and incidence of bacterial infections among Hepatitis C negative drug injectors in Rhode Island. Manuscript submitted.
- Phillips, K.T., & Rosenberg, H. (in press). The Development and Evaluation of the Harm Reduction Self-Efficacy Questionnaire. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.
- Rosenberg, H., Baylen, C., Murray, S., Phillips, K.T., Pristas, E., Versland, A, & Tisak, M. (in press). Attributions for abstinence from illicit drugs by university students. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy.
- Phillips, K.T., Rosenberg, H., & Sanikop, A. (2007). English and American drug clients’ views of the acceptability, advantages and disadvantages of treatment and harm-reduction interventions for substance abuse. Journal of Drug Issues, 37, 377-402.
- Rosenberg, H., & Phillips, K.T. (2003). Acceptance and availability of innovative harm-reduction therapies for drug abuse in American substance abuse treatment agencies. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 17, 203-210.