Integrating Social Drivers of Health into Hospital Ratings with Application to the 100 Top Hospitals Study.

The objective was to investigate the relationship between social drivers of health (SDOH) and hospital performance within the 100 Top Hospitals study, exploring methods to recognize hospitals serving marginalized communities. Publicly available data sourced from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the 2023 100 Top Hospitals study was used. The study employed multivariable hierarchical generalized linear regression models to assess the association between an SDOH composite variable derived using principal component analysis and overall hospital performance measures within the 100 Top Hospitals study.

Effects of Episodic Memory Recall on Reinforcing Value of Physical Activity.

Objective: Many people prefer a sedentary versus an active lifestyle and have difficulty completing sufficient physical activity to improve health. While exercise can be a powerful reinforcer for some people, many prefer to be sedentary. The relative reinforcing value of physical activity (RRV) is influenced by a person's learning history with positive experiences strengthening the motivation to be active.

Insulin Resistance and Glycated Hemoglobin in Obesity Are Associated With Preference for Sugar-Sweetened Yogurt: A Pilot Study.

Objective: Insulin resistance is associated with elevated activation of food reward, which should be associated with an increased reinforcing value of food. Research has also shown that sugar is a macronutrient strongly associated with reward and reinforcing value of food. This research is designed to assess whether insulin resistance is associated with a stronger preference for sugar-sweetened, thus elevating blood glucose responses in obese people with varying degrees of insulin resistance.

Effects of 6-month episodic future thinking training on delay discounting, weight loss and HbA1c changes in individuals with prediabetes.

People with prediabetes are at risk for type 2 diabetes. They may discount the future delay discounting (DD), and not engage in preventive health behaviors. Episodic future thinking (EFT) can reduce DD when future scenarios are cued, but research is needed to assess long-term effects of EFT and when EFT is not cued.

A story to tell: the role of narratives in reducing delay discounting for people who strongly discount the future.

Delay Discounting (DD) or devaluing a future, larger reward in favour of a smaller, more immediate reward, has been linked to negative health behaviours. One intervention that reduces DD is Episodic Future Thinking (EFT). EFT has participants generate cues representing positive future events that correspond to temporal windows during the DD task.