{"id":127433,"date":"2022-03-31T08:00:23","date_gmt":"2022-03-31T12:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=127433"},"modified":"2022-04-08T17:16:19","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T21:16:19","slug":"using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Technology to Help Reduce Substance Addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

UCF clinical psychologist and Professor Lidia Meshesha works tirelessly to help improve the lives of people afflicted by addiction.<\/p>\n

She knows from previous studies, that many people relapse after treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have seen too many patients who struggle with addiction, and despite going to treatment and reporting that they don\u2019t want to use alcohol or drugs anymore, they find themselves back in the same situation year after year,\u201d Meshesha says. \u201cI want to find ways that can help them escape this unwanted vicious cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Meshesha\u2019s research focus is on utilizing brief and easily accessible interventions to help patients achieve better outcomes through technology. Currently, her primary interest lies in developing interventions that patients can access on their digital devices, such as smartphone apps.<\/p>\n

Her work was recognized in 2020 when the National Institutes of Health awarded her with a $1 million career grant.<\/p>\n

Meshesha was born in Ethiopia and moved to the U.S. as a child. She has a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology from Williams College, a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Memphis. She completed a clinical psychology residency and postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University.<\/p>\n

She has always been interested in clinical psychology and how people cope once they receive psychological treatment. However, she did not start with an interest in addiction. It was after college, she worked on a project with hospitalized patients with opioid dependence. The experience motivated her to focus on this population and improve treatment outcomes for those who need it most.<\/p>\n

At UCF, Meshesha also funnels her passion for psychology<\/a> into teaching while mentoring graduate students in her Designing Research & Education for Addiction Management\u00a0(DREAM) lab<\/a>. She helps her students develop their line of research, work on their master\u2019s thesis and form their dissertation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely love watching them develop and grow their passion for the work we do, whether it is research or clinical work with patients,\u201d she says. \u201cIt is an incredible feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UCF Professor Lidia Meshesha looks to help curb addiction by tapping into easily accessible technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":127436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,12,23],"tags":[982,8279,9526],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-127433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-health","category-research","tag-college-of-sciences","tag-department-of-psychology","tag-womens-history-month"],"yoast_head":"\nUsing Technology to Help Reduce Substance Addiction | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UCF Professor Lidia Meshesha looks to help curb addiction by tapping into easily accessible technology.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Using Technology to Help Reduce Substance Addiction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UCF Professor Lidia Meshesha looks to help curb addiction by tapping into easily accessible technology.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-31T12:00:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-08T21:16:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/03\/WEBLidia-image.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zenaida Kotala\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zenaida Kotala\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Zenaida Kotala\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4f0fdedfa744a8bfddd06132e6ce9b5e\"},\"headline\":\"Using Technology to Help Reduce Substance Addiction\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-31T12:00:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-08T21:16:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/\"},\"wordCount\":338,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/03\/WEBLidia-image.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"College of Sciences\",\"Department of Psychology\",\"women's history month\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Colleges & Campus\",\"Health & Medicine\",\"Research\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2022\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/\",\"name\":\"Using Technology to Help Reduce Substance Addiction | University of Central Florida News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/03\/WEBLidia-image.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-31T12:00:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-08T21:16:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4f0fdedfa744a8bfddd06132e6ce9b5e\"},\"description\":\"UCF Professor Lidia Meshesha looks to help curb addiction by tapping into easily accessible technology.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/03\/WEBLidia-image.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/03\/WEBLidia-image.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Assistant Professor Lidia Meshesha received a National Institutes of Health career award in 2020.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Using Technology to Help Reduce Substance Addiction\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/\",\"name\":\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\",\"description\":\"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4f0fdedfa744a8bfddd06132e6ce9b5e\",\"name\":\"Zenaida Kotala\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b942e6b48d92cfeb8c940ffaf4efc2f77419a530cc2bd85f06c36bbffea9b02a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b942e6b48d92cfeb8c940ffaf4efc2f77419a530cc2bd85f06c36bbffea9b02a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zenaida Kotala\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/author\/zkotala\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#local-main-organization-logo\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"University of Central Florida\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Using Technology to Help Reduce Substance Addiction | University of Central Florida News","description":"UCF Professor Lidia Meshesha looks to help curb addiction by tapping into easily accessible technology.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Using Technology to Help Reduce Substance Addiction","og_description":"UCF Professor Lidia Meshesha looks to help curb addiction by tapping into easily accessible technology.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/","og_site_name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF","article_published_time":"2022-03-31T12:00:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-04-08T21:16:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/03\/WEBLidia-image.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Zenaida Kotala","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UCF","twitter_site":"@UCF","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Zenaida Kotala","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/"},"author":{"name":"Zenaida Kotala","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4f0fdedfa744a8bfddd06132e6ce9b5e"},"headline":"Using Technology to Help Reduce Substance Addiction","datePublished":"2022-03-31T12:00:23+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-08T21:16:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/"},"wordCount":338,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/03\/WEBLidia-image.jpg","keywords":["College of Sciences","Department of Psychology","women's history month"],"articleSection":["Colleges & Campus","Health & Medicine","Research"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2022","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/","name":"Using Technology to Help Reduce Substance Addiction | University of Central Florida News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/03\/WEBLidia-image.jpg","datePublished":"2022-03-31T12:00:23+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-08T21:16:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4f0fdedfa744a8bfddd06132e6ce9b5e"},"description":"UCF Professor Lidia Meshesha looks to help curb addiction by tapping into easily accessible technology.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/03\/WEBLidia-image.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/03\/WEBLidia-image.jpg","width":800,"height":800,"caption":"Assistant Professor Lidia Meshesha received a National Institutes of Health career award in 2020."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Using Technology to Help Reduce Substance Addiction"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","description":"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4f0fdedfa744a8bfddd06132e6ce9b5e","name":"Zenaida Kotala","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b942e6b48d92cfeb8c940ffaf4efc2f77419a530cc2bd85f06c36bbffea9b02a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b942e6b48d92cfeb8c940ffaf4efc2f77419a530cc2bd85f06c36bbffea9b02a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Zenaida Kotala"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/author\/zkotala\/"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/using-technology-to-help-reduce-substance-addiction\/#local-main-organization-logo","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"University of Central Florida"}]}},"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2022\/03\/WEBLidia-image-300x300.jpg","primary_category":23,"primary_tag":982,"author_byline":"Mila Chial","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127433"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127835,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127433\/revisions\/127835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127433"},{"taxonomy":"tu_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tu_author?post=127433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}