Ruth Gassman


Ruth Gassman profile picture

Senior Scientist
Executive Director of Prevention Insights

Email: rgassman@iu.edu
Phone: 812-855-1237
Address: 501 N. Morton St.
Department: Applied Health Science

B.S. University of Iowa 1984
M.A. University of Iowa 1987
Ph.D. Rutgers University 1995

  • Executive Director and Associate Research Scientist, Prevention Insights, Department of Applied Health Science, School of Public Health, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
  • Executive Director and Associate Research Scientist, Institute for Research on Addictive Behavior, School of Public Health, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
  • Associate Scientist, Karl F. Schuessler Institute for Social Research, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
  • Associate Scientist, Alcohol Reserach Group, Public Health Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA
  • Public Health Service Graduate Research Assistant, Rutgers, New Brunswick, NJ

Scholarly Interest

Alcohol and drug health services, including screening and brief intervention for drug and alcohol abuse, evaluation of services, and education of health care professionals.

Gassman, R. A. (2003). Medical specialization, profession, and mediating beliefs that predict stated likelihood of alcohol screening and brief intervention: Targeting educational interventions. Substance Abuse, 24(3), 141-156.

Gassman, R. A. (1997). Social work student characteristics and their views of alcoholic clients: Designing educational interventions. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 42(2), 19-31

Babor, T. F., Higgins-Biddle, J. C., Higgins, P. S. , Gassman, R. A. & Gould, B. E. (2004). Training medical providers to conduct alcohol screening and brief intervention. Substance Abuse, 25(1), 17-26.

Gassman, R. A., Demone, H. W., Albilal, R. (2001). Alcohol and other drug content in core courses: Encouraging substance abuse assessment. Journal of Social Work Education, 37(1), 137-145.

Gassman, R. A., Demone, Harold W., & Wechsler, Henry (2002, August). College students' drinking: master's in social work compared with undergraduate students. Health & Social Work, 27(3), 184.

Gassman, R. A. & Weisner, C. (2005). Community providers' views of alcohol and drug problems. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 5(4), 101-115.

Gassman, R. A. (2007). Practitioner-level predictors of alcohol problem detection and management activities. Journal of Substance Use, 12(3), 191-202.

Agley, J. & Gassman, R. (2008). A state based model of prevention: Indiana's example. Health Promotion Practice, 9(2), 199-204.

Gassman, R.A., Nowicke, C., & Jun, M.K. (2010). Adolescent methamphetamine use: Characteristics that predict involvement with the police. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 54(1), 76-92.

YoussefAgha, A., Gassman, R. A., Jones, A. D., & Jun, M. K. (2010). Trends in alternative forms of tobacco intake among high school students. Eta Sigma Gamma Health Education Monograph Series: Special Issue on Tobacco: The Most Preventable Cause of Death, 27(1), 45-51.

Agley, A., Agley, D., Gassman, R.A., Jun, M.K. (2010). Sleep, stress, and smoking among college students. Eta Sigma Gamma Health Education Monograph Series: Special Issue on Tobacco: The Most Preventable Cause of Death, 27(1), 1-8.

Torabi, M.R., Jun, M.K., Nowicke, C., Seitz, B., and Gassman, R., "Tobacco, the Common Enemy and A Gateway Drug: Policy Implications," American Journal of Health Education 41(1):4-13, 2010 (invited). (Reprinted with permission in the International Council on Health, Physical Education, Recreation - Sport and Dance Journal of Research, 5(1), 37-44.)

Gassman, R.A., Agley, J., Johnston, J.D., Middlestadt, S.E., Van Puymbroeck, M., & YoussefAgha, A. (2012). Catalyzing trans-disciplinary studies in public health: A college health survey and data platform. Health Promotion Practice, 13(1), 90-97.

Agley, J., Gassman, R.A., Kolbe, L., Seo, D.-C., & Torabi, M. (2012). Do sociodemographic factors, smoking status, and beliefs about the health of others predict attitudes toward smoke-free air policies in various settings? Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion. 29(3), 91-101.

Agley, J., Gassman, R.A., Crabb, D., Babcock, D., Bartholonew, J., Session, L., Wilson, C., & Vannerson, J. (2012). Exploring medical residents' likelihood to perform screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) behaviors 30 days after a face-to-face SBIRT training. Journal of Community Medicine and Health Education. 2:188.doi:10.4172/2161-0711.1000188

Seo, D-C., Owens, D., Gassman, R., & Kingori, C. (2013). Effects of a 2.5-year campus-wide intervention to reduce college drinking. Journal of Health Education, 72(6), 673-683.

Agley, J., Walker, B., Gassman, R.A., (2013). Adaptation of alcohol and drug screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment to a department of collegiate athletics. Journal of Health Education, 72(6), 647-659.

Townsend, J.A., Hsieh, P-C., Van Puymbroeck, M., Johnston, J.D., Gassman, R., Agley, J., Middlestadt, S., & YoussefAgha, A. (2013). Sense of coherence, perceived stress and health related qualtiy of life in college students. The Illuminare: A Student Journal in Recreation, Parks, and Leisure Studies, 11(1), 69-74.

Agley, J., McIntire, R., DeSalle, M., Tidd, D., Wolf, J., & Gassman, R. (2014). Connecting patients to services: Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment in primary health care. Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy, 21(5), 370-379.

Agley, J., Gassman, R.A., Vannerson, J., Crabb, D. (2014). Assessing the Relationship between medical residents' perceived barriers to SBIRT implementation and their documentation of SBIRT in clinical practice. Public Health, 128(8), 755-758.

Agley, J., Gassman, R. A., DeSalle, M., Vannerson, J., Carlson, J., & Crabb, D. (2014). Screening, brief intervention, referral to treatment (SBIRT) and motivational interviewing for PGY1 medical residents. Journal of Graduate Medical Education, (Dec.), 765-769.

Agley, J., Gassman, R.A., YoussefAgha, A., Jun, M., Wasantha, J., & Torabi, M. (2015). Examing sequences of adolescent substance use initiation involving OTC drug abuse. Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, 24(4), 212-219.

Vaughan, E.L., Gassman, R.A., Jun, M.K., & Seitz de Martinez, B.J. (2015). Gender differences in risk and protective factors for alcohol use and risk for substance use problems among hispanic adolescents. Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, 24(5), 243-254.

Agley, J., Crabb, D.W, Harris, L.E., Gassman, R. A., & Gerke, S.P. (2015). An assessment of SBIRT prescreening and screening outcomes by medical setting and administration methodology. Health Services Research & Managerial Epidemiology, 2, 1-6. DOI: 10.1177/2333392815612476.

Agley, J., Gassman, R. A., Jun, M, Nowicke, C., & Samuel, S. (2015). Statewide administration of the CRAFFT screening tool: Highlighting the spectrum of substance use. Substance Abuse and Misuse, 50(13), 1668-1677.

Gassman, R. A., Agley, J., Fly, A. D., He, K., Beckmeyer, J. J., Sayegh, M. A., & Tidd, D. M. (2016). Using biological samples for youth ATOD survey validation: Focus group study. Addiction Research and Theory, 24(3), 177-185.

Jun, M.K., Agley, J., Huang, C., & Gassman, R.A. (2016). College binge drinking and social norms: advancing understanding through statistical applications. Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, 25(2), 113-123.

Agley, J., McNelis, A.M., Carlson, J.M, Schwindt, R., Clark, C.A., Kent, K.A., Lay, K., Gassman, R.A., & Crabb, D.W. (2016). If you teach it, they will screen: Advanced practice nursing students’use of screening and brief intervention in the clinical setting. Journal of Nursing Education, 55(4), 1-5.

Reho, K., Agley, J., DeSalle, M., & Gassman, R.A. (2016). Are we there yet? A review of Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) implementation fidelity tools and proficiency checklists. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 37(4), 377-388.

Agley, J.D., Meyerson, B.E., Shannon, D., Ryder, P.T., Ritchie, K., & Gassman, R. (2017). Using the hybrid method to survey US pharmacist: Applying lessons learned to Leverage technology. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 13(1), 250-252.

Carlson, J., Agley, J., McNelis, A., Schwindt, R., Vannerson, J., Gassman, R., & Crabb, D. (2017). Effects of training on social work, nursing, and medical trainees’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs related to screening and brief intervention for alcohol use. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 61(1), 14-35.

Carlson, J.M., Agley, J., Gassman, R.A., McNelis, A.M., Schwindt, R., Vannerson, J., Crabb, D., & Khaja, K. (2017). Effects and durability of an SBIRT training curriculum for first year MSW students. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 17(1-2), 135-49.

Gassman, R., Jun, M., Samuel, S., Agley, J.D., Lee, J., & Wolf, J. (2018). Indiana Youth Survey-2018. Bloomington, IN: Institute for Research on Addictive Behavior.

Meyerson, B.E., Davis, A., Agley, J.D., Shannon, D.J., Lawrence, C.A., Ryder, P.T., Ritchie, R., & Gassman, R.A. (2018). Predicting pharmacy syringe sales to people who inject drugs: Policy, practice, and perceptions. International Journal of Drug Policy, 56, 46-53.

Meyerson, B.E., Agley, J., Davis, A., Jayawardene, W., Hoss, A., Shannon, D.J., Ryder, P.T., Ritchie, K., & Gassman, R.A. (2018). Predicting pharmacy naloxone stocking and dispensing following a statewide standing order, Indiana 2016. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 188, 187-192.

Gerke, S.P., Agley, J., Wilson, C., Gassman, R., Forays, P., & Crabb, D.W. (2018). An initial assessment of the utility of validated alcohol and drug screening tools in predicting 30-dat readmission to adult general medicine wards. American Journal of Medical Quality, 33(4), 397-404. org/10.1177/ 1062860617750469

Agley, J., Carlson, J.M., McNelis, A.M., Gassman, R.A., Schwindt, R., Crabb, D., & Vannerson, J. (2018). ‘Asking’ but not ‘Screening’: Assessing physicians’ and nurses’ substance-related clinical behaviors. Substance Use & Misuse, 53(11), 1834-1839. DOI.org/10.1080/10826084.2018.1438806