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Dr Meredith A Terlecki

Senior Lecturer

Drugs and Addictive Behaviours Research Group

Meredith’s research interests include identification and prevention of alcohol and substance use disorders among young people including those especially vulnerable to use (e.g., comorbid social anxiety disorder).

    Dr Meredith Terlecki completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Louisiana State University (USA) and pre-doctoral clinical internship at the Baltimore Veterans' Affairs Hospital/University of Maryland Consortium. She has since worked as a Lecturer and now Senior Lecturer at UEL. She is a member of UEL's Drug and Addictive Behaviours Research Group. Dr Terlecki is Programme Leader of UEL's MSc in Clinical and Community Psychology.

    Dr Terlecki is a BPS Charter Clinical Psychologist (HCPC Reg.). She holds an honorary post as a Clinical Psychologist in addictions services in the East London NHS Trust.



    British Psychological Society, Chartered Member (CPsychol)
         Division of Clinical Psychology
         Faculty of Addiction

    American Psychological Association, Member
         Division 12 (Clinical Psychology)
         Division 50 (Addictions)

    Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Member
    Research Society on Alcoholism, Member
    Fellow, Higher Education Academy
    Health Care Professions Council registered Chartered Psychologist

    Overview

    Meredith’s research is broadly on the identification and prevention of alcohol and substance use disorders among high-risk young adults. She is also interested in determining which substance use treatments work the best for which clients and why. Meredith has recently focused her research on understanding the relationship between social anxiety and alcohol use among participants in alcohol treatment studies.


    Projects

    RadioActive as a digital radio intervention for reducing psychosocial problems among hard to reach and excluded at-risk groups. Collaborators: Andrew Ravenscroft, PhD, Gordon Kerr, Colin Rainey, Tom Gerken, UEL CASS School of Education & Communities with UEL School of Digital Industries.|

    Social anxiety and heavy drinking: the mediating effect of protective behavioral strategies. Collaborators: Julia Buckner, PhD, Louisiana State University, USA.|

    Injunctive norms & social anxiety. Collaborators: Julia Buckner, PhD and Anthony Ecker, MA, Louisiana State University, USA.|

    BASICS for mandated and volunteer students: Individual differences variables affecting treatment outcomes. Collaborators: Amy Copeland, PhD and Julia Buckner, PhD. |Louisiana State University, USA. Mary Larimer, University of Washington, USA.|


    Grants

    Addiction, At-Risk Youth & Digital Media: Development & Evaluation of an Internet Radio Intervention to Reduce Substance Misuse among Excluded and Hard-to-Reach Youth Principal Investigator: Andrew Ravenscroft, Ph.D. Co-Investigator: Meredith Terlecki, Ph.D. Research Student: Tom Gerken Source: University of East London Mechanism: Ph.D. Research Studentship Period: September 2014 – August 2017 Award: £59,577|

    Computerised Health Feedback Intervention for University Substance Users: A Pilot Study Principal Investigator: Meredith Terlecki, Ph.D. Agency: The University of East London Mechanism: Early Career Research Accelerator Award Period: January 2013 – July 2013 Direct Costs: £6,312|

    Brief alcohol intervention for heavy drinking mandated college students. Principal Investigator: Meredith Terlecki, M.A. Mentors: Amy Copeland, Ph.D.; Co-Mentors: Mary E. Larimer, Ph.D., Richard D. Scribner, M.D., M.P.H., & Julia D. Buckner, Ph.D. Agency: U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Mechanism: National Research Service Award Pre-doctoral Fellowship F31 AA17565 Period: September 2010 – August 2011 Direct Costs: $33,731 |


    Research Groups

    UEL Health Psychology Research Group, Member
    UEL Addictive Behaviours Research Group, Member
    UEL Substance Use and Misuse Research Network, Member
    International Network on Brief Interventions for Alcohol & Other Drugs, Member

    Research Supervision

    Dr Terlecki is open to enquiries from prospective PhD students interested in the following areas: addiction, alcohol, drugs, social anxiety, behavioural intervention trials, prevention, brief interventions, and motivational interviewing.





    Collaborators

    • UEL
    • External
    • test
    • Associate Professor
      Dr Julia D. Buckner

    Research

    PEER REVIEWED MANUSCRIPTS
    *Selected full-text manuscripts available from UEL’s Research Open Access Repository (ROAR)

    Terlecki, M.A., Richter, A.A., Neighbors, C., Young, C.M., & Buckner, J.D. (in press). Alcohol-induced risky sexual behaviour among socially anxious drinkers. Addiction Research & Theory. doi: 10.1080/16066359.2017.1306057

    Buckner, J.D., Jeffries, E.R., Terlecki, M.A., Ecker, A.H. (2016). Distress tolerance among students referred for treatment following violation of campus cannabis use policy: Relations to use, problems, and motivation. Behavior Modification, 40(5), 663-677. doi: 10.1177/0145445515610315

    Buckner, J.D. & Terlecki, M.A. (2016). Social anxiety and alcohol-related impairment: The mediational impact of solitary drinking. Addictive Behaviors, 58, 7-11. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2016.02.006

    Terlecki, M.A., Buckner, J.D., Larimer, M.E., & Copeland, A.L. (2015). Randomized controlled trial of brief alcohol screening and intervention for college students for heavy-drinking mandated and volunteer undergraduates: 12-month outcomes. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 29(1), 2-16. doi: 10.1037/adb0000056

    Terlecki, M.A. & Buckner, J.D. (2015). Social anxiety and heavy situational drinking: Coping and conformity motives as multiple mediators. Addictive Behaviors, 40, 77-83. doi. 10.1016/jaddbeh.2014.09.008.

    Copeland, A.L., Proctor, S.L., Terlecki, M.A., Kulesza, M., & Williamson, D.A. (2014). Do positive expectancies for tobacco and alcohol have a critical developmental period in pre-adolescence? Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 75(6), 945-952. doi. 10.15288/jsad.2014.75.945

    Terlecki, M.A., Ecker, A.H., & Buckner, J.D. (2014). College drinking problems and social anxiety: The importance of drinking context. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 28(2), 545-552. doi.10.1037/a0035770.

    Terlecki, M.A., Buckner, J.D., Larimer, M.E., & Copeland, A.L. (2012). Brief motivational intervention for college drinking: The synergistic impact of social anxiety and perceived drinking norms. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 26(4), 917-923. doi.10.1037/a0027982.

    Palcic-Moreno, J., Kelley, M.L., Landry, D.N., Paasch, V., Terlecki, M.A., Johnston, C.A., Foreyt, J.P. (2011). Development and validation of the family health behavior scale. Pediatric Obesity, 6, 480-486. doi: 10.3109/17477166.2011.575148 

    Terlecki, M.A., Buckner, J.D., Larimer, M.E., & Copeland, A.L. (2011). The role of social-anxiety in a brief alcohol intervention for heavy-drinking college students. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 25(1), 7-21. doi: 10.1891/0889-8391.25.1.7

    Terlecki, M.A., Larimer, M.E., & Copeland, A.L. (2011). Clinical outcomes of a brief motivational intervention for heavy drinking mandated college students: A pilot study. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 71(1), 54-60. doi: 10.15288/jsad.2010.71.54

    Copeland, A.L., Kulesza, M., Patterson, S.M., & Terlecki, M.A. (2009). College student smokers' cognitive appraisal of high-risk activities. Journal of American College Health, 58(3), 203-212. doi: 10.1080/07448480903295300

    Businelle, M.S., Apperson, M.R., Kendzor, D.E., Terlecki, M.A., & Copeland, A.L. (2008). The relative impact of nicotine dependence, other substance dependence, and gender on Bechara Gambling Task performance. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 16(6), 513-520. doi:10.1037/a0013510.

    BOOK CHAPTERS

    Terlecki, M.A., Ecker, A.H., Buckner, J.D., & Copeland, A.L. (2012). Treating drug abuse. In C. Correia, J. Murphy, & N. Barnett (Eds.). College Student Alcohol Abuse: A Guide to Assessment, Intervention, and Prevention (pp. 289-311). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

    Copeland, A. L., Terlecki, M.A., & Hecht, G.S. (2008). Nicotine use and weight-related issues in women. In J.E. Landow (Ed.). Smoking Cessation: Theory, Interventions, & Prevention (pp. 325-339). Nova Publishers.

    CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

    Terlecki, M.A., Ecker, A.H., & Buckner, J.D. (2013). The Role of Coping and Conformity Motives in the Prediction of Excessive Situational Drinking among Socially Anxious Undergraduates. In R. Cooper (Chair), A. Gerlach (Discussant). Social Anxiety and Hazardous Drinking: Illuminating the Comorbidity. Symposium presented at the 47th annual meeting of the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Nashville, TN, USA.

    Terlecki, M.A., Buckner, J.D., Larimer, M.E., & Copeland, A.L. (2011). Understanding the Differential Outcomes of a Brief Motivational Intervention for College Drinking: The Synergistic Impact of Social Anxiety and Perceived Drinking Norms. In J. Buckner (Chair), S. Stewart (Discussant). Understanding Social Anxiety's Role in Risky Alcohol and Marijuana Use: Clinical Implications of Research Data. Symposium presented at the 45th annual meeting of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Toronto, Canada.

    Terlecki, M.A., Buckner, J.D., Larimer, M.E., & Copeland, A.L. (2009). The role of social anxiety in a brief alcohol intervention for heavy drinking college students. In J.D. Buckner (Chair), M.E. Larimer (Discussant). The Impact of Anxiety of Cognitive Behavioral Treatments for Substance Dependence. Symposium presented at the 43rd annual meeting of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, New York, USA.







    Publications

    Teaching