Cumulative Psychosocial and Health Disparities in US Adolescent Cigarette Smoking, 2002 to 2019.

Background: Understanding disparities in adolescent cigarette smoking is important for effective prevention.

Methods: We investigated disparities in adolescent smoking based on cumulative reported psychosocial/health risk among respondents ages 12-17 years in the US National Survey of Drug Use and Health from 2002 to 2019. Multivariable regression estimated associations of cumulative risk, survey years, and their interaction predicting past-month and daily smoking.

Examining the Predictive Utility of Behavioral Economic Demand Indices and Subjective Effects on the Actualized Reinforcing Value of Menthol Cigarettes and Potential Alternatives.

Introduction: Considering recent and proposed bans on menthol cigarettes, methods are needed to understand the substitutability of potential menthol cigarette alternatives (MCAs) for menthol cigarettes. This study examined the prospective relationship between behavioral economic demand indices and subjective effects of usual brand menthol cigarettes (UBMC) and preferred MCAs with subsequent performance on a laboratory-based concurrent-choice task comparing UBMC and MCAs.

Methods: Eighty participants who typically smoked menthol cigarettes completed this clinical laboratory study.

Substance use patterns, sociodemographics, and health profiles of harm reduction service recipients in Burlington, Vermont.

Background: Understanding current substance use practices is critical to reduce and prevent overdose deaths among individuals at increased risk including persons who use and inject drugs. Because individuals participating in harm reduction and syringe service programs are actively using drugs and vary in treatment participation, information on their current drug use and preferred drugs provides a unique window into the drug use ecology of communities that can inform future intervention services and treatment provision.

Methods: Between March and June 2023, 150 participants in a harm reduction program in Burlington, Vermont completed a survey examining sociodemographics; treatment and medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) status; substance use; injection information; overdose information; and mental health, medical, and health information.

Smoking cessation interventions for U.S. adults with disabilities: A systematic review.

Introduction: People with disabilities disproportionately use tobacco products. However, little is known about cessation interventions tailored for people with disabilities. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of smoking cessation interventions for adults with disabilities.

Substitutability of menthol cigarette alternatives: a clinical trial.

Introduction: This study assessed the substitutability of plausible combustible menthol cigarette alternatives (MCAs) for usual brand menthol cigarettes (UBMCs) in adults who smoke menthol cigarettes.

Methods: Following three in-lab sampling sessions, 80 adults aged 21-50 who smoke menthol cigarettes chose their preferred MCA: (1) a menthol roll-your-own cigarette (mRYO), (2) a menthol filtered little cigar (mFLC) or (3) a non-menthol cigarette (NMC). Participants were instructed to completely substitute their preferred MCA for their UBMC for 1 week and complete daily diaries documenting adherence and subjective effects.

A Survey of Staff Training and Performance Management Practices: An Update.

The field of behavior analysis has experienced marked growth in the number of credentialed professionals over the last decade. This growth may have implications for the quality of staff training, performance management, and supervision practices provided in human service settings. The purpose of this survey was to extend DiGennaro Reed and Henley (2015) by surveying credentialed and aspiring behavior analytic professionals on the staff training, performance management, and supervision practices available at their current place of employment.

Contingency management interventions for abstinence from cigarette smoking in pregnancy and postpartum: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Contingency management is one of the most effective treatments for substance use disorders in not-pregnant people. The most recent quantitative review of its efficacy among pregnant and postpartum women who smoke cigarettes concluded with moderate certainty that those receiving contingent financial incentives were twice as likely to be abstinent compared with controls. We aimed to update and extend previous reviews.

The fourth wave of the overdose crisis: Examining the prominent role of psychomotor stimulants with and without fentanyl.

The current overdose and broader public health crisis involving illicit drug use is often referred to as the "opioid" or "fentanyl" crisis. Clearly there is extensive data on the profound damage done by opioids over the past 20 years and specifically by fentanyl in the past 5 years. However, there is an extensive array of data that suggests there is more to the current crisis than opioids/fentanyl.

Smoking cessation interventions for US adults with disabilities: protocol for a systematic review.

Introduction: People with disabilities have a higher prevalence of cigarette smoking than people without disabilities. However, little information exists on smoking cessation interventions tailored to address the unique needs of people with disabilities. This paper describes a systematic review protocol to identify and evaluate tobacco smoking cessation interventions designed to improve outcomes for people with disabilities.

Contingency Management for Stimulant Use Disorder: Progress, Challenges, and Recommendations.

The United States is currently in the fourth wave of the overdose crisis wherein stimulants together with fentanyl are the major drivers of overdose deaths. To date, there has been limited effort outside the US Veterans Administration Health System health system to disseminate evidence-based treatment for people with stimulant use disorder. Contingency management, a behavioral intervention in which positive reinforcement is provided for a target behavior indicating treatment progress, has decades of empirical support but limited implementation in real-world, non-US Veterans Administration Health System settings.

Addiction potential of combustible menthol cigarette alternatives: a randomised cross-over trial.

Introduction: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued proposed product standards banning menthol as a characterising flavour in cigarettes and cigars. The public health benefits of these product standards may be attenuated by the role of plausible substitutes in the marketplace. Therefore, the present study examined the addiction potential of plausible combustible menthol alternatives compared with usual brand menthol cigarettes (UBMC).

Leveraging the cigarette purchase task to understand relationships between cumulative vulnerabilities, the relative reinforcing effects of smoking, and response to reduced nicotine content cigarettes.

We examined if the relative-reinforcing effects of smoking increase with greater cumulative vulnerability and whether cumulative vulnerability moderates response to reduced nicotine content cigarettes. Participants were 775 adults from randomized clinical trials evaluating research cigarettes differing in nicotine content (0.4, 2.

Technology-based contingency management for walking to prevent prolonged periods of workday sitting.

Sedentary behavior is an emerging public health issue. Frequent, brief bouts of walking are recommended by experts to reduce the health risks correlated with physical inactivity and prolonged sedentary periods. The purpose of the current study was to extend the literature by evaluating a remote, technology-based contingency management (CM) intervention that reinforced frequent, brief bouts of walking to decrease prolonged periods of sitting during the workday.

Effects of a Systems-Level Intervention to Improve Trainer Integrity in a Behavioral Healthcare Organization.

Objectives: Direct support professionals (DSPs) play a critical role in health-related outcomes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who reside in congregate living settings. Large behavioral healthcare organizations often rely on staff to function as peer trainers for newly hired DSPs. Organizations should adopt empirically supported training techniques to prepare peer trainers for their role and develop systems to ensure ongoing integrity of the training system.

Training human service staff to implement behavioral skills training using a video-based intervention.

The current study evaluated the efficacy of a video-based training to teach 4 staff working in a human service setting to use behavioral skills training (BST) to teach job-related skills to others. Low levels of BST integrity were observed during baseline. Immediately after viewing a 13-min training video, 2 participants implemented BST at mastery (i.

Evidence-Based Performance Management: Applying Behavioral Science to Support Practitioners.

The science of behavior has effectively addressed many areas of social importance, including the performance management of staff working in human-service settings. Evidence-based performance management entails initial preservice training and ongoing staff support. Initial training reflects a critical first training component and is necessary for staff to work independently within an organization.

Operant renewal of desirable behavior in a simulated workplace: A translational model.

Organizational settings are replete with changing stimulus contexts and contingencies, which makes relapse a particularly relevant framework for understanding the ways in which controlling stimuli influence employee responding. The purpose of the current study was to develop a translational model to assess renewal of desirable behavior in a simulated workplace with neurotypical adults. Experiment 1 assessed renewal of desirable behavior using a computerized check processing task.

A brief review of technology-based antecedent training procedures.

This brief review summarizes recent research on technology-based antecedent staff training procedures, highlights key methodological components, and concludes with potential directions for future research.

Enhancing the training integrity of human service staff using pyramidal behavioral skills training.

This experiment used a pyramidal training model to evaluate the effects of behavioral skills training (BST), delivered in a 1-time group-training format, on the extent to which 25 human service staff implemented BST when training others how to implement behavioral procedures. Results indicated that (a) the training workshop increased BST integrity to mastery levels for the majority of participants with varying levels of education, organizational positions, and training experience, (b) the training effects generalized to teaching an untrained skill, and (c) high levels of BST integrity maintained at follow-up 4 to 6 weeks after training for all 3 participants with whom probes were conducted. Moreover, participants indicated high levels of satisfaction with both the training workshop and BST as a training procedure.

A Survey Assessing Privacy Concerns of Smart-Home Services Provided to Individuals with Disabilities.

Privacy has been identified as a primary concern among stakeholders (i.e., service recipients, advocates, administrators, family) when using technology to provide residential services to individuals in need.