Efficacy of a personalised alcohol approach bias modification smartphone app in people accessing outpatient alcohol use disorder treatment: A randomised controlled trial.

Background And Aims: Several randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have demonstrated that delivering approach bias modification (ApBM) during residential alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment helps prevent post-treatment relapse. However, few studies have examined ApBM's efficacy for AUD in outpatients. We trialled a personalised ApBM smartphone app in individuals receiving outpatient AUD treatment.

Nicotine e-cigarettes for smoking cessation following discharge from smoke-free inpatient alcohol and other drug withdrawal services: a pragmatic two-arm, single-blinded, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial.

Background: Nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have been shown to be effective for smoking cessation among general populations, but there is little evidence in people with substance use disorders (SUDs). We aimed to assess the effectiveness of e-cigarettes for smoking abstinence in people with SUD following discharge from smoke-free inpatient withdrawal services.

Methods: We conducted a pragmatic, two-arm, single-blinded, parallel-group randomised controlled trial.

Experiences of telehealth among people receiving alcohol and other drug treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for future telehealth delivery.

Introduction: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic necessitated the rapid uptake of telehealth to deliver treatment for alcohol and other drug (AOD) concerns. However, little is known about how the move from in-person to telehealth delivery impacted clients' experience of care. This qualitative study aimed to explore experiences of telehealth among people receiving alcohol and other drug treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their preferences regarding future telehealth care.

The effect of approach bias modification during alcohol withdrawal treatment on craving, and its relationship to post-treatment alcohol use in a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Approach bias modification (ApBM) for alcohol use disorder helps prevent relapse, yet the psychological mechanisms underlying its efficacy remain unclear. Alcohol craving predicts relapse and appears to be related to the biased processing of alcohol stimuli which is reduced by ApBM. However, there is little research examining whether ApBM reduces alcohol craving.

Alcohol use in the year following approach bias modification during inpatient withdrawal: secondary outcomes from a double-blind, multi-site randomized controlled trial.

Background And Aims: Approach bias modification (ApBM) targeting alcohol approach bias has been previously shown to reduce likelihood of relapse during the first 2 weeks following inpatient withdrawal treatment (IWT). We tested whether ApBM's effects endure for a longer period by analysing alcohol use outcomes 3, 6 and 12 months post-discharge.

Design: A double-blind, sham-controlled randomized controlled trial.

A Personalized Approach Bias Modification Smartphone App ("SWiPE") to Reduce Alcohol Use: Open-Label Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Effectiveness Study.

Background: Approach bias modification (ApBM), a computerized cognitive intervention that trains people to "avoid" alcohol-related images and "approach" nonalcohol images, reduces the likelihood of relapse when administered during residential alcohol treatment. However, most individuals experiencing alcohol problems do not require, do not seek, or have difficulty accessing residential treatment. Smartphone-delivered ApBM could offer an easily accessible intervention to reduce alcohol consumption that can be personalized (eg, allowing selection of personally relevant alcohol and positive nonalcohol training images) and gamified to optimize engagement.

Associations between opioid dependence and sweet taste preference.

Rationale: Past research suggests that people with opioid dependence show increased consumption of sweet food, but it is unclear if this is influenced by altered taste preference and/or taste perception.

Objectives: We tested whether people prescribed opioid substitution therapy (OST) exhibited a shift in preference towards sweeter flavours, and altered perception of sweetness, and explored whether these measures of taste preference/perception were associated with measures of opioid use.

Methods: Three groups of participants (people prescribed OST, n=36; people with past opioid dependence, but now abstinent from all opioids, n=18; and controls with no history of substance dependence other than nicotine, n=29) provided ratings of "sweetness", "liking", and "desire" of 4 solutions with varying concentrations of sucrose.

Protocol for the methamphetamine approach-avoidance training (MAAT) trial, a randomised controlled trial of personalised approach bias modification for methamphetamine use disorder.

Background: Globally, methamphetamine use has increased in prevalence in recent years. In Australia, there has been a dramatic increase in numbers of people seeking treatment, including residential rehabilitation, for methamphetamine use disorder (MUD). While residential rehabilitation is more effective for MUD than withdrawal treatment (i.

Effect of Cognitive Bias Modification on Early Relapse Among Adults Undergoing Inpatient Alcohol Withdrawal Treatment: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: More than half of patients with alcohol use disorder who receive inpatient withdrawal treatment relapse within weeks of discharge, hampering subsequent uptake and effectiveness of psychological and pharmacologic interventions. Cognitive bias modification (CBM) improves outcomes after alcohol rehabilitation, but the efficacy of delivering CBM during withdrawal treatment has not yet been established.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that CBM would increase the likelihood of abstaining from alcohol during the 2 weeks following discharge from inpatient withdrawal treatment.

Improved rates of treatment success following alcohol and other drug treatment among clients who quit or reduce their tobacco smoking.

Introduction And Aims: Alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment seekers who smoke tobacco are more likely to die of tobacco-related causes than those attributable to their primary drug of concern (PDOC), yet smoking cessation is frequently overlooked in the context of AOD treatment settings. We explored rates of AOD treatment success among participants who quit or continued smoking 12 months after initiating AOD treatment.

Design And Methods: Secondary analysis of data from a prospective multisite naturalistic outcome study of 559 smokers recruited from 21 publicly funded specialist AOD services as part of the Patient Pathways National Project.

Personalized Approach Bias Modification Smartphone App ("SWIPE") to Reduce Alcohol Use Among People Drinking at Hazardous or Harmful Levels: Protocol for an Open-Label Feasibility Study.

Background: Alcohol accounts for 5.1% of the global burden of disease and injury, and approximately 1 in 10 people worldwide develop an alcohol use disorder. Approach bias modification (ABM) is a computerized cognitive training intervention in which patients are trained to "avoid" alcohol-related images and "approach" neutral or positive images.

Feasibility and acceptability of approach bias modification during methamphetamine withdrawal and related methamphetamine use outcomes.

Approach bias modification (ApBM), a computerised cognitive training task which aims to reduce automatic, impulsive responding to drug-related cues, has been found to reduce alcohol consumption among individuals seeking treatment for their drinking. However, this approach has not been trialled in patients with methamphetamine use disorder (MUD), where altered impulsivity and reward processing are well-established. As such, this study aimed to examine the feasibility and acceptability of four consecutive days of ApBM training during a residential admission for methamphetamine withdrawal.

Improved Quality of Life Following Addiction Treatment Is Associated with Reductions in Substance Use.

People seeking treatment for substance use disorders (SUD) ultimately aspire to improve their quality of life (QOL) through reducing or ceasing their substance use, however the association between these treatment outcomes has received scant research attention. In a prospective, multi-site treatment outcome study ('Patient Pathways'), we recruited 796 clients within one month of intake from 21 publicly funded addiction treatment services in two Australian states, 555 (70%) of whom were followed-up 12 months later. We measured QOL at baseline and follow-up using the WHOQOL-BREF (physical, psychological, social and environmental domains) and determined rates of "SUD treatment success" (past-month abstinence or a statistically reliable reduction in substance use) at follow-up.

The influence of opioid dependence on salt consumption and related psychological parameters in mice and humans.

Background: The consumption of dietary salt (NaCl) is controlled by neuronal pathways that are modulated by endogenous opioid signalling. The latter is disrupted by chronic use of exogenous opioid receptor agonists, such as morphine. Therefore, opioid dependence may influence salt consumption, which we investigated in two complimentary studies in humans and mice.

Combining approach bias modification with working memory training during inpatient alcohol withdrawal: an open-label pilot trial of feasibility and acceptability.

Background: According to contemporary neurocognitive models, addiction is maintained by the biasing of information-processing and decision-making systems towards relatively automatic, impulsive, reward-seeking responses to drug-related stimuli, and away from more controlled, deliberative, "reflective" states of processing that could result in decisions to delay or avoid drug use. Cognitive training programs aimed at either countering "impulsive" processing or enhancing "reflective" processing alone have shown promise. However, there has been no attempt to simultaneously target both aspects of processing with a combined training program.

Protocol for a randomised controlled trial of cognitive bias modification training during inpatient withdrawal from alcohol use disorder.

Background: People with alcohol use disorders often exhibit an "alcohol approach bias", the automatically triggered action tendency to approach alcohol. Approach bias is likely to persist following withdrawal from alcohol, and contribute to the high rate of relapse following withdrawal treatment. Cognitive bias modification (CBM) training has been shown to attenuate approach biases and lead to reduced relapse rates.

Prescribed sedative and other psychotropic medication use among clients attending alcohol and other drug treatment.

Introduction And Aims: Prescribed psychotropic medications contribute to overdose mortality among people with alcohol and other drug (AOD) disorders. We report on prescribed psychotropic medication use among AOD treatment service attendees, focusing on sedative drugs.

Design And Methods: Prospective multi-site naturalistic outcome study in residential and outpatient AOD treatment facilities in Victoria and Western Australia.

Problem gambling and substance use in patients attending community mental health services.

Background and aims Relatively little is known about co-occurring gambling problems and their overlap with other addictive behaviors among individuals attending mental health services. We aimed to determine rates of gambling and substance use problems in patients accessing mental health services in Victoria, Australia. Methods A total of 837 adult patients were surveyed about their gambling and administered standardized screening tools for problem gambling and harmful tobacco, alcohol, and drug use.

Evidence that anhedonia is a symptom of opioid dependence associated with recent use.

Background: Anhedonia is prevalent among substance-dependent populations. The hedonic allostasis model suggests this is due to the effects of addictive substances on neural substrates of reward processing. However, previous research may have been confounded by other factors likely to influence anhedonia, including tobacco use, psychopathology, and history of trauma and other stressors.

Implications of Eligibility Criteria on the Generalizability of Alcohol and Drug Treatment Outcome Research: A Study of Real-World Treatment Seekers in Sweden and in Australia.

Background: Clinical studies of alcohol and drug treatment outcomes frequently apply participant eligibility criteria (EC), which may exclude real-world treatment seekers, impairing the representativeness of studied samples. Some research exists on the impact of EC on alcohol treatment seekers. Little is known about drug treatment and country differences.

Cognitive Bias Modification Training During Inpatient Alcohol Detoxification Reduces Early Relapse: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Relapse is common in alcohol-dependent individuals and can be triggered by alcohol-related cues in the environment. It has been suggested that these individuals develop cognitive biases, in which cues automatically capture attention and elicit an approach action tendency that promotes alcohol seeking. The study aim was to examine whether cognitive bias modification (CBM) training targeting approach bias could be delivered during residential alcohol detoxification and improve treatment outcomes.

Characteristics of individuals presenting to treatment for primary alcohol problems versus other drug problems in the Australian patient pathways study.

Background: People seeking treatment for substance use disorders often have additional health and social issues. Although individuals presenting with alcohol as the primary drug of concern (PDOC) account for nearly half of all treatment episodes to the Australian alcohol and other drug (AOD) service system, previous treatment cohort studies have focused only on the profile of Australian heroin or methamphetamine users. While studies overseas indicate that clients seeking treatment primarily for their drinking are less likely to experience social and economic marginalisation than those seeking treatment primarily for illicit or pharmaceutical drug use, very little research has directly compared individuals presenting with alcohol as the PDOC to those primarily presenting with other drugs as their PDOC.

Psychometric properties, validity, and reliability of the Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale state version in an opioid-dependent sample.

Background: Individuals with substance dependence commonly experience anhedonia. Theories of anhedonia distinguish between anticipatory and consummatory reward deficits, with the Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS) the first self-report scale to separately measure these two constructs. Several psychometric studies have analysed the trait version of the TEPS, but the state version of the TEPS has not been previously validated.