Leonard A. Jason

Leonard A. Jason (born 1949) is a professor of psychology at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, where he also directs the Center for Community Research.^[1] His chief professional interests include the study of chronic fatigue syndrome, smoking, smoking cessation, and Oxford House recovery homes for substance abuse.^[2] Jason's interest in chronic fatigue syndrome began when he was diagnosed with the condition in 1990 after having mononucleosis.^[1]

Early life and education

Leonard A. Jason is the son of Jay Jason, a well known comedian who entertained in the Catskills Mountains. Jason received a B.A. in psychology from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts in 1971 and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York in 1975.

Career

Jason is a former president of the Division of Community Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA) and a past editor of The Community Psychologist.^[3] Jason has edited or written 23 books, and he has published 541 articles and 77 book chapters on CFS, recovery homes, the prevention of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse, media interventions and program evaluation. He has served on 83 Thesis Committees (of which he chaired 57), and 70 Dissertation Committees (of which he chaired 36). He has served on the editorial boards of ten psychological journals. Jason has served on review committees of the National Institutes of Health, and he has received over $26,000,000 in federal research grants.^[2] He was also a board member and vice-president for an advocacy group called International Association of CFS/ME.^[4]

He is a member the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee.^[5] In 1999, Jason published an epidemiological study of chronic fatigue syndrome among United States adults.^[6] Jason helped organize two major American Psychological Association sponsored conferences on research methods for community psychology ^[7][8] and recently co-edited a book on this topic.^[9]

Jason has served on the editorial boards of journals including:

• Prevention in Human Services, 1986-1995; renamed Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community, 1996–present.^[10]
• Journal of Community Psychology, 1983-1986, 2007–present.^[11]
• The Journal of Primary Prevention, 1983-1986. Appointed Associate Editor, 1986-2007.^[2]
• Special Services in the Schools; renamed Journal of Applied School Psychology 1984-2008.^[12]

Honors and awards

Jason received the 1997 Distinguished Contributions to Theory and Research Award^[13] and the 2007 Special Contribution to Public Policy award of the Society for Community Research and Action.^[14] He was presented the 1997 CFIDS Support Network ACTION Champion Award by the Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome Association of America.

He received the Dutch ME Foundation International ME Award in 2003.^[15] He has been awarded three media awards from the APA.^[16]

Bibliography

Selected publications

• Jason, A.; Olson, D.; Ferrari, R.; Majer, M.; Alvarez, J.; Stout, J. (Jul 2007). "An examination of main and interactive effects of substance abuse recovery housing on multiple indicators of adjustment". Addiction 102 (7): 1114–1121. doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2007.01846.x. ISSN 0965-2140. PMC: 2976482. PMID 17567399.
• Jason, A.; Benton, C.; Valentine, L.; Johnson, A.; Torres-Harding, S. (Apr 2008). "The Economic impact of ME/CFS: Individual and societal costs" (Free full text). Dynamic Medicine 7: 6. doi:10.1186/1476-5918-7-6. PMC: 2324078. PMID 18397528.
• Jason, L. A.; Najar, N.; Porter, N.; Reh, C. (2009). "Evaluating the Centers for Disease Control's Empirical Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Case Definition". Journal of Disability Policy Studies 20 (2): 93. doi:10.1177/1044207308325995.

Selected books

• Jason, LA; Fennell, P; Taylor, RR, eds. (2003-06-26). Handbook of chronic fatigue syndrome. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 978-0-471-41512-1. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
• Jason, LA; Ferrari, JR; Davis, MI; et al., eds. (2006). Creating communities for addiction recovery: The Oxford House model. Taylor & Francis, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7890-2930-0. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
• Jason, LA; Olson, BD; Foli, K, eds. (2008). Rescued lives: The Oxford House approach to substance abuse. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7890-3631-5. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
• Jason, LA, ed. (1997). Community building: Values for a sustainable future. Westport, CT: Praeger. ISBN 978-0-275-95872-5. Retrieved 2010-09-18.

References

1. Tuller, David (May 30, 2008). "Times Essentials: Expert Q&A—Learning Firsthand about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
2. "Leonard A. Jason's Home Page". DePaul University. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
3. "The Community Psychologist (Fall 2007)". Retrieved 2 September 2009.
4. "IACFS/ME Board of Directors". IACFS/ME Newsletter 2 (1). January 2009. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
5. "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee minutes". Retrieved 2 September 2009.
6. Jason, LA; et al. (1999). "A community-based study of chronic fatigue syndrome". Arch Intern Med 159 (18): 2129–37. doi:10.1001/archinte.159.18.2129. PMID 10527290. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
7. Tolan, P., Keys, C., Chertok, F., & Jason, L. (Eds.). (1990). Researching community psychology: Issues of theories and methods. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.http://www.apa.org/pubs/books/4318031.aspx http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1990-98742-000/
8. Jason, L.A., Keys, C.B., Suarez-Balcazar, Y., Taylor, R.R., Davis, M., Durlak, J., Isenberg, D. (2004). (Eds.). Participatory community research: Theories and methods in action. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.http://www.apa.org/pubs/books/4318003.aspx
9. Jason, L.A., & Glenwick, D.S. (Eds.) (2012). Methodological Approaches to Community-Based Research. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.http://www.apa.org/pubs/books/4316136.aspx
10. Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
11. "Journal of Community Psychology". Journals. Wiley InterScience. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
12. "Journal of Applied School Psychology". Retrieved 12 January 2009.
13. "Award for Distinguished Contributions to Theory and Research in Community Psychology". Society for Community Research and Action. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
14. "Award for Special Contributions to Public Policy". Society for Community Research and Action. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
15. "People". American Psychological Association. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
16. Stephen B. Pokorny; Jason, Leonard (2002). Preventing youth access to tobacco. New York: Haworth Press. pp. About The Editors. ISBN 0-7890-1963-9. Retrieved 2009-12-25.