Robert Laforge, Sc.D.

  • Director of Survey Research Center (SRC), CPRC, URI
  • Research Associate Professor of Psychology, URI Adjunct Faculty of Community Health, Brown Univ.
  • Phone: 401.874.5571
  • Email: rlaforge@uri.edu

Biography

Robert Laforge, Sc.D. has been the director of the CPRC’s Survey Research Center (SRC) since its inception in 1991. He is also Research Associate Professor of Psychology at URI and an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Community Health at Brown University.

Robert Laforge, Sc.D. received his doctorate from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1987, specializing in research methods and health policy evaluation.

Recently, Dr. Laforge lead the development of the CPRC’s client-server based survey management information system, which is used for mixed-mode data collection, database management, information processing and on-demand publishing.
He also has been Principal investigator on a project that developed the Health Track System; a resident database management information system for continuing care retirement communities capable of resident tracking and monitoring health and functional status, services utilization, and program data.

He has taught survey research methodology at Brown University and URI, and has investigated measurement issues in smoking policy and worked in the areas of the prevention of substance abuse, injuries, and functional decline. He has numerous publications and professional presentations, and has served as PI or Co-PI on a variety of federally and privately funded research grants.

Other interests and experience include the study of the epidemiology of health behaviors; alcohol and substance abuse, exercise management, dietary fat reduction, nicotine replacement, and other health behaviors.

Selected Publications

Prochaska, JO, Velicer, WF, Fava, JL, Ruggiero, L, Laforge, RG, & Rossi, JS. Counselor and Stimulus Control Enhancements of a Stage-Matched System Intervention for Smokers in a Managed Care Setting. Preventive Medicine, 2001: 32:23-32

Maddock, JE., Laforge, RG. & Rossi, JS.  Short Form of a Situational Temptation Scale for Heavy Episodic Drinking.  Journal of Substance Abuse, 2000:11(3):281-288.

Velicer, WF, Prochaska, JO. Fava, JL, Rossi, JS., Redding, CS, Laforge, RG., Robbins, ML.  Using the Transtheoretical Model for Population based Approaches to Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.  Homeostasis in Health and Disease, 2000: 40(5); 174-195.

Maddock, JE., Laforge, RG., Rossi, JS. & O’Hare, T.  The College Alcohol Problems Scale. Addictive Behaviors.  26: 385-398, 2000.

Linnan, LA, Emmons, KM, Klar, N, Fava, JF, Laforge, RG, and Abrams, DB..Challenges to improving the impact of worksite cancer prevention programs: comparing reach, enrollment, and attrition using active and passive recruitment strategies.  Annals of Behavioral Medicine; (in Press), 2002.

Laforge, RG, Velicer, WF & Richmond, R. Stage Distributions for Five Health Behaviors in the USA & Australia. Preventive Medicine, 1999; 28:61-74.

Laforge, RG, Rossi, JR, Prochaska, JO., Velicer, WF, Levesque, DA, & McHorney, CA. Stage of Regular Exercise and Health Related Quality of Life.  Preventive Medicine, 1999;28:349-360.

Velicer, WF, Prochaska, JO., Fava, J., Laforge, RG., & Rossi, J. Interactive versus Non-interactive Interventions and Dose-Response Relationships for Stage Matched Smoking Cessation Programs in a Managed Care Setting.  Health Psychology, 1999; 18(1):1-8.

Nigg, CR, Burbank, P, Padula, C, Dufresne, R Rossi, JS Prochaska, JO, Velicer, W, &Laforge, RG. Stages of Change Across Ten Health Risk Behaviors for Older Adults (In Press)The Gerontologist, 1999; 139(4): 473-482.

Laforge, RG,. Gomes, SO, Cottrill,SD,  Furman, A, Wood, MD Prochaska, JO, Velicer Wf, Rossi, , J S. Redding  CA.  Baseline Results of Proactive Telephone Recruitment of College Drinkers in the College-Based Alcohol Risk Reduction (C-BARR) Trial.  Alcoholism :Clinical and Experimental Research, 25(5): xx..[Abstract] Research Society on Alcohol, Denver, June 2001.

Laforge, RG.  Invited Speaker and Panel Participant, NIAAA Research Work Group on Alcohol Problems among College Students, July, 2000.

Evers, K., Harlow, LL, Redding, CA & Laforge, RG.  Longitudinal change in stage of change for condom use in women.  Am. J. Health Promotion, 1998;13 (1), 19-25.

Laforge, RG., Velicer WF., Levesque DA., Fava ,JL. Hill, DJ, Schofield, P., Fan, D., De Vries, H., Shisana, WO, Conner, M.  Measuring Support for Tobacco Control in selected areas of Six Countries. Tobacco Control: An International Journal, 1998: 7:241-246.

Willey, C., Laforge, RG, Blaise, L, Pallonen, U., Prochaska, JO, Botello, R.  Public Health and the Science of Behavior Change.  Current Issues in Public Health, 1996;2:18-25.

Laforge, RG., Greene, GW., & Prochaska, JO. Psycho-Social Factors Influencing Low Fruit and Vegetable Consumption”,  Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 1994 ;17(4): 361-374.

Laforge, RG., S. Noar, L. Maurillo, S. Gomes & S. Cottrill  Construct Validity of a measure of Readiness to change Heavy Episodic “Binge” Drinking in a General Population of Adults. Alcoholism :Clinical and Experimental Research, 24(5): 113A..[Abstract] Research Society on Alcohol, Denver, June 2000.

Zwick, W., Stout, R., Laforge, RG., Zywiak, W.  Substance Abuse Case Identification, Medical Utilization and Case Monitoring, In Smith, W. (Chair) Alcohol Services Research in the HMO Setting. Presented at the Association for Health Services Research.  Washington DC, June 1998.

Laforge, RG., Maddock, J., & Rossi, JS. (1998) Comparison of five stage methods for alcohol abuse among college students. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 20, S170 (Abstract).

Velicer, WF, Laforge, RG, Levesque, DA, & Fava, JL. The Development and Initial Validation of the Smoking Policy Inventory, Tobacco Control: 1994 ;3: 347-355

Laforge, RG., Nirenberg, TD., Lewis, DC, Murphy, JB.  Problem Drinking, Gender and Stressful Life Events Among Hospitalized Elderly Drinkers, Behavior, Health and Aging, 1993; l3(2):103-112.

Boyce, JM., Opal, SM., Potter-Bynoe, G., Laforge, RG., Furtado, G., Victor G., Medeiros,  AA.  Emergence and Nosocomial Transmission of Ampicillin-Resistant Enterococci   Anti-microbial Agents and Chemotherapy, 1992;36(5):1032-1039

Laforge, RG, Spector, WD., and Sternberg, J.  The Relationship Between Vision and Hearing Impairment to One-Year Mortality and Functional Decline  Journal of Aging and  Health, 1992;4(1):126-148.

Laforge, RG., Mignon, S.,  “Alcohol Use and Alcohol Problems among the Elderly”, Rhode Island Medicine, 1993;76(1):21-26 .

Laforge, RG, Williams, GD, Dufour, M.  “Alcohol Consumption, Gender and Self-reported Hypertension.  Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 1990;26 (3): 235-249.

Laforge, RG., Williams, GD., Harford, TC., Parker, DA.  “Alcoholic Beverage Type, Recall Period Effects and Functional Disability: Evidence from the 1983 NHIS.”  Drug and Alcohol  Dependence, 1990;25 (3):257-272.

Gold, RM., Laforge, RG., Sawchenko, P., Fraser, J., Pytko, D.  Cool water’s suppression of water intake: Persistence across deprivation conditions, ages, sexes, and osmolarities.Physiol. Behav 1977;18(6): 1047-1053.

Laforge, RG.  Misplaced Priorities: A History of Federal Alcohol Regulation and Public  Health Policy.  Dissertation submitted to the Department of Health Policy and Management of The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, January 1987.