Russell Wins National Award for Research on HR Policies and Substance Use Disorders

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Alex Russell

Alex Russell, an assistant professor of public health, recently won an award for his research related to human resource policies that could help reduce drug and alcohol disorders among employees.

Russell teamed up with Murphy Smith of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and David Kerry of the University of North Carolina Charlotte to write the award-winning paper, "Ensuring Effective HR Policies on Substance Use Disorders."

The Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler Outstanding Published Manuscript Award was presented at the American Accounting Association Gender Issues and Work-Life Balance Section's annual meeting in August.

"In our paper, we provide information that business managers can use to better understand and formulate human resource policies to alleviate alcohol and other drug use disorders, which affect millions of Americans each year," Russell said.

The authors note that companies can help alleviate employees' stress by encouraging work-life balance. "Reducing work-related stress contributes to employees' well-being, including making them less likely to turn to unhealthy stress-relievers, such as alcohol or other drugs. Facilitating people's work-life balance leads to improved job performance and better ethical behavior," Smith said.

Russell's research broadly focuses on hazardous alcohol use and alcohol use disorder and advancing the science and practice of recovery. His scholarly work has been published in leading addiction journals, including Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Addictive Behaviors, Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs and Nicotine and Tobacco Research.