Stephanie Fincham-Campbell
Stephanie is currently undertaking a PhD at King’s College London exploring the social networks of dependent drinkers using a mixed methods approach, supervised by Professor Colin Drummond and Professor Joanne Neale.
Prior to beginning her PhD, Stephanie worked as a research assistant over five years on various projects. The most recent of which involved working on a randomised controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of assertive outreach compared to care as usual for people who frequently attend hospital due to alcohol related reasons. She completed her MSc in Mental Health Services and Population Research at King’s College London and her BSc in Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Stephanie’s research interests are in improving support in the community for people with severe and long term mental illness and addiction, the role of psychology within addictions, and implementation science,.
Qualitative exploration of social network constructs and domains measured in alcohol dependence: a systematic review
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Aims
1. Identify validated social network instruments that have been used in alcohol dependence
2. Describe the psychometric evaluation of instruments in alcohol dependence
3. Synthesise the social network constructs measured in alcohol dependence via a content analysis
Methods
A systematic search was performed in the databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and PubMed. Articles were eligible if they assessed social networks in alcohol dependent populations using a validated instrument. Psychometric properties of instruments were assessed using a structured checklist, and social network constructs measured across all instruments were synthesised via a content analysis.
Results
After screening, thirty-six studies were included in the analysis, yielding eight social network instruments. Thirty of the studies used the Important People and Activities Instrument, or adaptations of this instrument.
The most extensively psychometrically tested social network instruments in alcohol dependence were the Important People and Activities instrument and the Social Provisions scale, each of which had internal consistency, discriminative validity, predictive validity and confirmatory factor analysis assessed.
I am in the final stages of the analysis, where I am doing a more in-depth analysis of the predictive validity of the instruments, which was assessed in six instruments, exploring what social network constructs predict drinking outcomes. I will also describe what social network constructs instruments measure.
Conclusions
I will conclude by commenting on the psychometric and conceptual validity of social network constructs in alcohol dependence. I will indicate the quality of the instruments based on these qualities.