What apps and websites do those in treatment for substance-related problems use to help them in their recovery? A cross-sectional study of products and use patterns.

Background: Given the global burden of substance use disorders (SUD), innovations in methods to achieve sustained recovery are critical. Digital health products (e.g.

The association between discrimination and drinking among sexual minorities: A daily diary study.

Background: Among sexual minorities (SMs), experiencing discrimination has been associated with greater substance use at the day-level. However, variations in sample characteristics and measures of day-level discrimination limit the generalizability of findings. Furthermore, it is unknown how positive experiences due to minority identity ("Minority Strengths") may impact the association between experiencing discrimination and same day drinking.

Black social media influencers engage higher percentages of Black gay and bisexual men in online outreach for HIV prevention research relative to paid ads.

Background: Influencer-based social media marketing campaigns are a popular strategy to engage customers in many non-research industries (e.g., retail), but have been increasingly used in public health campaigns to reach and engage specific populations.

Development and Evaluation of a Measure of Drinking Behavior in Response to Acculturation Stressors for Latinx Adults Entering Alcohol Treatment.

Introduction: The current study presents the development of a scale to assess drinking behavior in response to acculturation and immigration stress.

Methods: The 19-item Measure of Immigration and Acculturation Stressors (MIAS) and a parallel assessment, a Measure of Drinking in Response to Immigration and Acculturation Stressors (MDRIAS), were administered at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months in a completed randomized controlled trial testing culturally adapted motivational interviewing to reduce heavy drinking and related problems in Latinx individuals who met criteria for heavy drinking (n=149).

Results: Exploratory factor analysis of the MIAS showed best fit for a four-factor solution (Relational Stress, Perceived Ethnic Discrimination, Attenuated Aspirations, and Sense of Alienation) with 15 items.

Using web analytics data to identify platforms and content that best engage high-priority HIV populations in online and social media marketing advertisements.

Background: Online advertisements on social media platforms are an important tool for engaging relevant populations in public health research. However, little is known about what platforms and ad characteristics are most effective in engaging high-priority HIV populations, including racial/ethnic and sexual minority individuals.

Methods: Data from this study were drawn from advertising campaigns conducted on popular websites and social media platforms that recruited for several nationwide randomized controlled trials of various HIV prevention and testing strategies among sexual minority men (SMM) from December 2019 until March 2022.

Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of Game Plan for PrEP: A Brief, Web and Text Message Intervention to Help Sexual Minority Men Adhere to PrEP and Reduce Their Alcohol Use.

Suboptimal adherence to oral PrEP medications, particularly among younger sexual minority men (SMM), continues to be a key barrier to achieving more substantial declines in new HIV infections. Although variety of interventions, including web and text-message-based applications, have successfully addressed PrEP adherence, very few have addressed the potential influence of alcohol. This pilot study explored whether the Game Plan for PrEP, a brief, web-based and text messaging intervention, helped promote PrEP persistence and adherence and reduced condomless sex and alcohol use.

Sexual Arousal-Delay Discounting: When Condoms Delay Arousal.

Sexual arousal plays an important role in condom use decisions. However, combined effects of reduced sexual arousal and delay to achieving arousal on condom use decisions remain understudied. This study used a novel sexual arousal-delay discounting (SADD) task to measure individuals' willingness to use a condom in situations where condom use would (1) delay time to arousal and (2) reduce the level of arousal one could achieve even after the delay (e.

Virtual reality (VR) treatments for anxiety disorders are unambiguously successful, so why are so few therapists using it? Barriers to adoption and potential solutions.

Anxiety disorders are a significant cause of disability globally, yet only one in ten sufferers receives adequate quality treatment. Exposure-based therapies are effective in reducing symptoms associated with a number of anxiety disorders. However, few therapists use exposure techniques to treat these conditions, even when they are adequately trained in them, often because of concerns about provoking distress, drop out, logistical barriers, and other concerns.

"I'm Gay With an Asterisk": How Intersecting Identities Influence LGBT Strengths.

Research attributes health disparities between sexual minority (those whose sexual orientation and/or practices differ from society, [SM]) and heterosexual populations to social marginalization. LGBT strengths (e.g.

Emotional Reactions to High-Risk Sex among Sexual Minority Men: Exploring Potential Opportunities for Just-In-Time Intervention.

Rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are high among sexual minority men (SMM). A large body of research has explored determinants of HIV/STI risk behavior, but few studies have explored emotional consequences of these events. Understanding the valence, timing, and strength of emotional reactions to sexual risk could inform use of specific behavior change techniques in interventions (such as anticipated regret) and identify new opportunities for intervention, including just-in-time interventions.

Feasibility, Appropriateness, and Willingness to Use Virtual Reality as an Adjunct to Counseling among Addictions Counselors.

Introduction: Research suggests that virtual reality (VR) experiences can be helpful as adjunctive tools in psychotherapy for some mental health conditions. VR is a computer-generated experience that produces a feeling of being immersed in a different environment. VR experiences could be useful in the treatment of substance use disorders, and several are currently being tested.

Behavioral healthcare organizations' experiences related to use of telehealth as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic: an exploratory study.

Background: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers were forced to shift many services quickly from in-person to virtual, including substance use disorder (SUD) and mental health (MH) treatment services. This led to a sharp increase in telehealth services, with health systems seeing patients virtually at hundreds of times the rate as before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. By analyzing qualitative data about SUD and MH care organizations' experiences using telehealth, this study aims to elucidate emergent themes related to telehealth use by the front-line behavioral health workforce.

The anticipated effects of simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use: Initial development and preliminary validation.

Social learning theories suggest that outcome expectancies are strong determinants of behavior, and studies find that alcohol and cannabis expectancies are associated with negative substance use outcomes. However, there are no measures to date that assess expectancies for simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use (SAM), often referred to as SAM, despite strong links with negative consequences and rising time trends. The present study sought to provide initial validation of test scores for the Anticipated Effects of Simultaneous Alcohol and Cannabis Use Scale (AE-SAM), using a sample of past month college student simultaneous users ( = 434).

Parent Smart: Effects of a Technology-Assisted Intervention for Parents of Adolescents in Residential Substance Use Treatment on Parental Monitoring and Communication.

Promoting parent involvement in adolescent residential substance use treatment is an evidence-based principle, yet engaging parents is challenging. Parent SMART (Substance Misuse among Adolescents in Residential Treatment) is a technology-assisted intervention that was designed to engage parents of adolescents in residential SU treatment during the post-discharge transition period. A prior pilot randomized controlled trial (=61 parent-adolescent dyads) established Parent SMART's feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness in reducing adolescent substance use and substance-related problems across both a short- (i.

Drinking less on cannabis use days: The moderating role of UPPS-P impulsive personality traits.

Several studies suggest that alcohol and cannabis co-users are heavier drinkers and experience more alcohol-related consequences. However, day-level associations between co-use and drinking levels are mixed. One reason may be that individual characteristics moderate the daily impact of using alcohol alone or in conjunction with cannabis.

Health Professional Stigma as a Barrier to Contingency Management Implementation in Opioid Treatment Programs.

Contingency management (CM) has robust evidence of effectiveness as an adjunct to medication for opioid use disorders. However, CM implementation in opioid treatment programs has been limited by a myriad of well-documented barriers. One relatively unexplored barrier that may hinder CM implementation is health professional stigma toward patients with opioid use disorders.

Cognitive-emotional mechanisms of alcohol intoxication-involved HIV-risk behavior among men who have sex with men (MSM).

Alcohol use is a key risk factor for HIV infection among men who have sex with men (MSM), primarily because it interferes with condom use. However, little is known about the cognitive-emotional mechanisms through which alcohol influences decisions to use condoms with high-risk partners among MSM. In this study, we tested whether alcohol-related deficits in inhibitory control and attention bias toward sexual cues (vs.

Conceptual framework for telehealth strategies to increase family involvement in treatment and recovery for youth opioid use disorder.

With opioid use at crisis levels, it is imperative to support youth ages with opioid use disorders (OUD) in taking medication and accessing behavioral services over long periods. This article presents a conceptual framework for telehealth strategies that can be adopted to increase family involvement across a four-stage continuum of youth OUD treatment and recovery: Treatment Preparation, Treatment Initiation, Treatment Stabilization, OUD Recovery. It first identifies provider-delivered tele-interventions that can enhance OUD services in each of the four stages, including family outreach, family engagement, family-focused intervention, and family-focused recovery maintenance.

The Affordable Care Act: policy predictors of integrated care between Hispanic-serving and mainstream mental health organizations.

Background: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act increased funding for integrated care to improve access to quality health care among underserved populations. There is evidence that integrated care decreases inequities in access and quality of mental health care among Hispanic clients. Increasing integrated care at Hispanic-Serving Organizations may help to eliminate mental health service disparities among Hispanic clients.

Is necessity also the mother of implementation? COVID-19 and the implementation of evidence-based treatments for opioid use disorders.

Opioid-related overdoses and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) represent two of the deadliest crises in United States' history and together constitute a syndemic. The intersecting risks of this syndemic underscore the urgent need to implement effective opioid use disorder (OUD) treatments that are sustainable amid COVID-19 mitigation strategies. In response to new federal guidance released during the pandemic, opioid treatment programs (OTPs) have quickly innovated to implement new systems of medication delivery.

The Anticipated Effects of Cannabis Scale (AECS): Initial development and validation of an affect- and valence-based expectancy measure.

Prior research suggests that cannabis expectancies are related to cannabis misuse and problems. Although there are established measures of cannabis expectancies, existing measures have psychometric limitations and/or are lengthy. Existing measures typically have a two-factor structure of positive and negative expectancies, but recent conceptualizations of alcohol expectancies support a valence- (positive vs.