A Comparison of Mathematical and Statistical Modeling with Longitudinal Data: An Application to Ecological Momentary Assessment of Behavior Change in Individuals with Alcohol Use Disorder.

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) has been broadly used to collect real-time longitudinal data in behavioral research. Several analytic methods have been applied to EMA data to understand the changes of motivation, behavior, and emotions on a daily or within-day basis. One challenge when utilizing those methods on intensive datasets in the behavioral field is to understand when and why the methods are appropriate to investigate particular research questions.

An efficacy trial of adaptive interventions for alcohol use disorder.

Background: Adaptive interventions, sometimes referred to as "stepped care", are those interventions in which the type or dosage of treatment offered to patients is tailored to baseline clinical presentation and then adjusted over time in response to patient progress or lack thereof. Currently, no adaptive brief interventions exist specifically for alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Method: This study used a sequential multiple assignment randomized trial design with 160 individuals with AUD recruited both locally and nationally who had a goal to reduce or abstain from drinking.

Context and craving among individuals with alcohol use disorder attempting to moderate their drinking.

Many individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) prefer a goal of moderation, because they do not see their drinking as causing severe enough consequences to merit abstinence. Given that individuals attempting to moderate will continue to put themselves in contexts where drinking occurs, understanding how distinct external alcohol cues prompt craving is important for implementing the optimal treatments for individuals with AUD. Using data from a randomized controlled trial of stepped care brief interventions for AUD, this study explored the relationship between drinking contexts and craving in individuals attempting to moderate their drinking using ecological momentary assessment (EMA).

Examining motivational interviewing's effect on confidence and commitment using daily data.

Mechanisms of behavior change (MOBC) within Motivational Interviewing (MI) are thought to operate via both relational and technical elements. These elements are hypothesized to increase client motivation and self-efficacy for change and subsequently decrease drinking. Only partial support for this causal chain exists, particularly when using within-session change talk as the primary intervening variable.

Exploration of treatment matching of problem drinker characteristics to motivational interviewing and non-directive client-centered psychotherapy.

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a known effective intervention for alcohol use disorder (AUD). MI's mechanisms of action remain inconsistently substantiated, and research in this area has been reliant on identifying relationships through strength of association rather than experimental manipulation of active ingredients. In two previous studies, a pilot and a larger replication study, we disaggregated MI into its hypothesized active ingredients by creating three conditions: MI, Spirit Only MI (SOMI, in which evocation of change talk was proscribed), and a non-therapy condition (NTC).

Comparing daily drivers of problem drinking among older and younger adults: An electronic daily diary study using smartphones.

Background: By 2030, numbers and proportions of older adults with substance-use problems are expected to increase. While risk factors for problem drinking in late life have been identified, it remains unknown whether these factors drive daily drinking among older problem drinkers. This study examined the daily drivers of drinking among problem drinkers, moderated by age, utilizing ecological momentary assessment (EMA).

Dynamical Systems Modeling to Identify a Cohort of Problem Drinkers with Similar Mechanisms of Behavior Change.

One challenge to understanding mechanisms of behavior change (MOBC) completely among individuals with alcohol use disorder is that processes of change are theorized to be complex, dynamic (time varying), and at times non-linear, and they interact with each other to influence alcohol consumption. We used dynamical systems modeling to better understand MOBC within a cohort of problem drinkers undergoing treatment. We fit a mathematical model to ecological momentary assessment data from individual patients who successfully reduced their drinking by the end of the treatment.

Dismantling motivational interviewing: Effects on initiation of behavior change among problem drinkers seeking treatment.

Motivational interviewing (MI) is an efficacious treatment for alcohol use disorders. MI is thought to enhance motivation via a combination of 2 therapeutic strategies or active ingredients: 1 relational and 1 directional. The primary aim of this study was to examine MI's hypothesized active ingredients using a dismantling design.

Dynamic Modeling of Problem Drinkers Undergoing Behavioral Treatment.

We use dynamical systems modeling to help understand how selected intra-personal factors interact to form mechanisms of behavior change in problem drinkers. Our modeling effort illustrates the iterative process of modeling using an individual's clinical data. Due to the lack of previous work in modeling behavior change in individual patients, we build our preliminary model relying on our understandings of the psychological relationships among the variables.

A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial of Different Mobile Messaging Interventions for Problem Drinking Compared to Weekly Drink Tracking.

Introduction: Recent evidence suggests that text messaging may help to reduce problem drinking as an extension to in-person services, but very little is known about the effectiveness of remote messaging on problem drinking as a stand-alone intervention, or how different types of messages may improve drinking outcomes in those seeking to moderate their alcohol consumption.

Methods: We conducted an exploratory, single-blind randomized controlled pilot study comparing four different types of alcohol reduction-themed text messages sent daily to weekly drink self-tracking texts in order to determine their impact on drinking outcomes over a 12-week period in 152 participants (≈ 30 per group) seeking to reduce their drinking on the internet. Messaging interventions included: weekly drink self-tracking mobile assessment texts (MA), loss-framed texts (LF), gain-framed texts (GF), static tailored texts (ST), and adaptive tailored texts (TA).

Testing Cross-Sectional and Prospective Mediators of Internalized Heterosexism on Heavy Drinking, Alcohol Problems, and Psychological Distress Among Heavy Drinking Men Who Have Sex With Men.

Objective: Minority stress theory is one of the primary theories used to understand substance use among lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations. This study tested whether drinking to cope with stress (DTC), loneliness, and gay community participation (GCP) mediated the relationship between one type of minority stress (i.e.

Within-person associations between daily motivation and self-efficacy and drinking among problem drinkers in treatment.

Gaining a better understanding of the change process holds promise to improve alcohol treatment. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) coupled with intensive longitudinal data (ILD) approaches have been proposed as promising methods that can advance change process research but have been used infrequently in alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment research. The current study used these approaches to examine the within-person associations of motivation and self-efficacy and drinking among treatment-seeking problem drinkers.

The independent relationship between trouble controlling Facebook use, time spent on the site and distress.

Background And Aims: There is an emerging literature base on the relationship between maladaptive traits and "addiction" to social networking sites. These studies have operationalized addiction as either spending excessive amounts of time on social networking sites (SNS) or trouble controlling SNS use, but have not assessed the unique contribution of each of these constructs on outcomes in the same models. Moreover, these studies have exclusively been conducted with younger people rather than a heterogeneous sample.