Mitigating fraud in a fully decentralized clinical trial of a digital health intervention.

Background: Decentralized clinical trials (DCT), digital survey methodologies, and health monitoring technologies create the potential to reduce study participant burden as well as enhance sample diversity and enrollment pace. However, fraudulent participant activity poses a significant threat to study validity and data integrity.

Purpose: This study quantifies fraudulent attempts at participation in a DCT of a mobile mental health intervention for problematic substance use and discusses methods to prevent and detect fraudulent activity.

Perinatal use of nonalcoholic beverages that mirror alcohol.

Non-alcoholic beverages that mirror alcohol are popular and marketed to pregnant people. Read more about what your patients are drinking.

Investigating a visceral measure of perceived physical attractiveness.

Perceptions of physical attractiveness are typically assessed using numeric rating scales. As with other visceral experiences, perceptions of physical attractiveness may benefit from multimodal measurement. Recently, we developed and validated a squeeze (dynamometer) method to evaluate two "visceral" states (hunger and cigarette craving).

Advising patients on the use of non-alcoholic beverages that mirror alcohol.

•Non-alcoholic beverages that mirror alcohol have potential benefits and risks.•Providers are currently offering varied health guidance on use of these beverages.•Research is needed to yield consensus on non-alcoholic beverage use health effects.

Non-alcoholic beverage consumption among US adults who consume alcohol.

Background And Aims: Non-alcoholic beverages (NABs) that mimic alcohol without inducing intoxication, such as non-alcoholic beers, non-alcoholic wines and spirit-free drinks, are increasing in popularity. It is unknown whether NABs help to mitigate or stimulate alcohol use. The present study aimed to describe NAB consumption practices among US adults consuming alcohol, characterize who is likely to consume NABs and examine whether NAB use influences desire for and perceived consumption of alcohol.

Criminogenic Needs and Legal Problem Severity Among Legal System Involved Veterans.

Background: Many veterans seeking behavioral health services have history of criminal-legal involvement. Research on criminogenic needs of legal system involved veterans is burgeoning. However, most research has relied on cross-sectional examinations and the vast majority of prior work has focused assessment on just one criminogenic need per study.

Kratom availability in California vape shops.

Kratom products are derived from trees native to Southeast Asia and have dose-dependent stimulant and opioid-like effects. Despite being on the Drug Enforcement Administration "Drugs and Chemicals of Concern List," kratom is legal for sale in most US states. However, there are scarce data on its availability.

Real Change or Performative Anti-Racism? Clinical Psychology Programs' Efforts to Recruit and Retain BIPOC Scholars.

Objective: This study assessed perceptions of Clinical Psychology doctoral programs' efforts to recruit and retain faculty and graduate students of color, as well as differences in perceptions based on participants' position within their program (i.e. graduate student versus faculty) and race.

Beer Goggles or Liquid Courage? Alcohol, Attractiveness Perceptions, and Partner Selection Among Men.

Objective: Perception of physical attractiveness (PPA) is a fundamental aspect of human relationships and may help explain alcohol's rewarding and harmful effects. Yet PPA is rarely studied in relation to alcohol, and existing approaches often rely on simple attractiveness ratings. The present study added an element of realism to the attractiveness assessment by asking participants to select four images of people they were led to believe might be paired with them in a subsequent study.

Interactive associations between abstinence plans and romantic partner conflict and support with cigarette smoking.

Background: While most individuals who smoke cigarettes desire to quit, quit motivation can change daily and sustained abstinence is rarely achieved in quit attempts. Assessment of psychosocial factors that moderate associations between daily abstinence intentions and smoking behavior is necessary to inform effective cessation efforts.

Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted using data from a 28-day ecological momentary assessment study among individuals who smoke and who were not actively planning a long-term quit attempt (N = 81 individuals; N = 1585 days).

Combating the Conspiracy of Silence: Clinician Recommendations for Talking About Racism-Related Events With Youth of Color.

Graphic videos of race-based violence, including police brutality toward Black people and anti-Asian hate crimes, have exploded over the past year. While documentation of these horrific acts has brought visibility to the pervasiveness of racial discrimination, it has also resulted in youth of color being exposed to racial stressors more than ever before across numerous social media and news platforms. Beyond the significant race-related stress already experienced by youth in school contexts, this increased exposure to racism via media is concerning, as both direct and vicarious exposure to racial discrimination can compromise psychological well-being of youth and cause trauma-like symptoms, such as intrusive thoughts, vigilance, and depression.

The effect of alcohol on mood among males drinking with a platonic friend.

Background: Despite the social nature of most drinking experiences, prior work has largely failed to incorporate social context into the study of alcohol's effects on emotion. The present study provides an initial test of the effect of alcohol on mood among platonic friends drinking together in a non-stress setting. We hypothesized that subjects would report more positive postdrink mood after consuming alcohol than after consuming a nonalcoholic control beverage.

Pleasant olfactory cues can reduce cigarette craving.

Cigarette craving is a cardinal feature of smoking, which is the leading preventable cause of death. Despite its clinical relevance, there remains a pressing need to develop new approaches for controlling craving. Although olfactory cues (OCs) are especially well suited to reduce affectively charged cravings, there has been surprisingly little research on the topic.

Using Placebo Beverages in Group Alcohol Studies.

Background: Placebo beverage conditions remain a key element in the methodological toolkit for alcohol researchers interested in evaluating pharmacological and nonpharmacological factors influencing the effects of alcohol consumption. While interest in experimentally examining alcohol in social context is on the rise, there has been little research examining the effectiveness of placebo manipulations in group settings, when just 1 suspicious participant could potentially jeopardize the effect of the placebo on group members. Moreover, research has rarely considered the association between individual difference factors (e.

Perception of physical attractiveness when consuming and not consuming alcohol: a meta-analysis.

Background And Aims: Elucidating why people drink and why drinking can lead to negative psychosocial consequences remains a crucial task for alcohol researchers. Because drinking occurs typically in social settings, broader investigation of the associations between alcohol and social experience is needed to advance understanding of both the rewarding and hazardous effects of alcohol use. This review aimed to (a) estimate alcohol's relation to the perception of others' physical attractiveness and (b) suggest theoretical and methodological considerations that may advance the study of this topic.

Predictors of at-risk intoxication in a university field setting: social anxiety, demographics, and intentions.

Objective: The determinants of alcohol consumption among university students were investigated in a downtown field setting with blood alcohol content (BAC) as the dependent variable.

Participants: In total, 521 participants completed a brief survey and had their BAC assessed during April 2013.

Methods: Between 10:00 pm and 2:00 am, teams of researchers recruited passersby at 3 heavy-drinking locations near a university campus.