A Snapshot of Parenting Practices Useful for Preventing Adolescent Vaping

Journal: Addictive Behaviors Reports, 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.abrep.2022.100418

Authors: Hye Jeong Choi, Michelle Miller-Day, Michael Hecht, Shannon D. Glenn, Rachel E. Lyons & Kathryn Greene

Abstract:

Introduction: Smoking research demonstrates that parents can influence their adolescent’s tobacco smoking perceptions and behaviors, but little is known about the protective effects of different parenting practices on adolescent vaping. In this study we investigate how adolescent perceptions of parents’ knowledge of their activities and parental media mediation are associated with adolescents’ perceptions of vaping and adolescent vaping behaviors.

Method: Six hundred thirty-nine youth (65.7% female, average age: 14.71 years old) recruited through 4-H clubs in nine states participated in a study evaluating a substance use intervention program. Because the evaluation design could influence participants, we used only baseline data. An online self-reported survey was administrated. Most youth self-identified as White (87.3%) and only handful youth indicated Asian (3.4%), African American (3.4%), American Indian (1.1%), and other or unreported (4.8%). Approximately 60% of youth lived in small town or rural areas in US.

Results: Analyses revealed that parental knowledge was positively related with adolescent perceived harm of vaping and perceived prevalence of vaping, but was negatively related with perceived acceptability of vaping and social expectancy of vaping. In addition, youth who reported greater parental media mediation were more likely to perceive the harm of vaping and less likely to vape compared with youth with lower parental media mediation.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that parental education about vaping, including those promoting conversations regarding vaping and vaping ads, may be important to the prevention of adolescent vaping.

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Meaning in Life and Stress-related Drinking: A Multicohort Study of College Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Journal: Addictive Behaviors, 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2022.107281

Authors: Anna E. Jaffe, Shaina A. Kumar, Brittney A. Hultgren, Kirstyn N. Smith-LeCavalier, Tracey A. Garcia, Jessica R. Canning & Mary E. Larimer

Abstract:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, college students have experienced heightened stressors and reported stress-related drinking. To identify potential protective factors among college students, we investigate the possibility that finding meaning and purpose in one’s life may lessen the strength of the association between stress and alcohol consumption in a multicohort sample of college students (N = 694; 64.8% women) recruited between November 2019 and September 2021. Consistent with expectations, negative binomial regressions revealed significant interactions, such that higher stress was only associated with more past-month alcohol use among individuals who reported low levels of meaning in life. The buffering role of meaning in life appeared to be robust; interaction results held when investigating both general perceived stress and COVID-specific stress, and did not vary by cohort. Although longitudinal and experimental research are needed, findings indicate that finding meaning and purpose in one’s life may help college students to navigate heightened periods of stress with more adaptive coping strategies that do not result in drinking to cope. Findings highlight the potential utility of meaning-promoting strategies in college alcohol interventions.

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Sociodemographic Patterns of Exclusive and Dual Combustible Tobacco and E-Cigarette Use among US Adolescents — A Nationally Representative Study (2017–2020)

Journal: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022, doi: 10.3390/ijerph19052965

Authors: Bukola Usidame, Jana L. Hirschtick, Delvon T. Mattingly, Akash Patel, Megan E. Patrick & Nancy L. Fleischer

Abstract:

This study assessed the sociodemographic predictors of exclusive and dual use of the most frequently used nicotine/tobacco products, e-cigarettes, and combustible tobacco among adolescents. Cross-sectional data was from the 2017–2020 Monitoring the Future nationally representative study of eighth, tenth, and twelfth-grade students. We coded past 30 day nicotine/tobacco use into four mutually exclusive categories: no use, e-cigarette use only, combustible use (cigarette or cigar) only, and dual use (e-cigarette and combustible). We pooled the 2017–2020 data to examine the relationship between sex, race/ethnicity, parental education, and each product-use category using multinomial logistic regression, stratified by grade level. Among eighth (N = 11,189), tenth (N = 12,882), and twelfth graders (N = 11,385), exclusive e-cigarette use was the most prevalent pattern (6.4%, 13.2%, 13.8%, respectively), followed by dual use (2.7%, 4.5%, 8.9%), and exclusive combustible use (1.5%, 2.5%, 5.3%). eighth and tenth-grade adolescents whose highest parental education was a 4-year college degree or more had lower odds of exclusive combustible and dual use when compared to adolescents whose highest parental education was less than a high school degree. Research should continue to monitor the differential use of combustible tobacco products and e-cigarettes among adolescents from low socioeconomic status backgrounds or racial/ethnic minority households to inform ongoing and future interventions or policies. View Full-Text

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Integrating Cognitive Dysfunction Accommodation Strategies into Behavioral Interventions for Persons on Medication for Opioid Use Disorder

Journal: Frontiers in Public Health, 2022, doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.825988

Authors: Colleen B. Mistler, Christie I. Idiong & Michael M. Copenhaver

Abstract:

Background: Cognitive dysfunction is disproportionately prevalent among persons with opioid use disorder (OUD). Specific domains of cognitive dysfunction (attention, executive functioning, memory, and information processing) may significantly impede treatment outcomes among patients on medication for OUD (MOUD). This limits patient’s ability to learn, retain, and apply information conveyed in behavioral intervention sessions. Evidence-based accommodation strategies have been integrated into behavioral interventions for other patient populations with similar cognitive profiles as persons with OUD; however, the feasibility and efficacy of these strategies have not yet been tested among patients on MOUD in a drug treatment setting.

Methods: We conducted a series of focus groups with 25 key informants (10 drug treatment providers and 15 patients on MOUD) in a drug treatment program in New Haven, CT. Using an inductive approach, we examined how cognitive dysfunction impedes participant’s ability to retain, recall, and utilize HIV prevention information in the context of drug treatment.

Results: Two main themes capture the overall responses of the key informants: (1) cognitive dysfunction issues and (2) accommodation strategy suggestions. Subthemes of accommodation strategies involved suggestions about particular evidence-based strategies that should be integrated into behavioral interventions for persons on MOUD. Specific accommodation strategies included: use of a written agenda, mindfulness meditation, multi-modal presentation of information, hands-on demonstrations, and a formal closure/summary of sessions.

Conclusions: Accommodation strategies to compensate for cognitive dysfunction were endorsed by both treatment providers and patients on MOUD. These accommodation strategies have the potential to enhance the efficacy of behavioral interventions to reduce HIV transmission among persons on MOUD as well as addiction severity, and overdose

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Six Moments of Infection Prevention in Injection Drug Use: An Educational Toolkit for Clinicians

Journal: Open Forum Infectious Diseases, 2022, doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofab631.

Authors: Leah Harvey, Jacqueline Boudreau, Samantha K Sliwinski, Judith Strymish, Allen L. Gifford, Justeen Hyde, Katherine Linsenmeyer & Westyn Branch-Elliman

Abstract:

Background: Injection drug use-associated bacterial and viral infections are increasing. Expanding access to harm reduction services, such as safe injection education, are effective prevention strategies. However, these strategies have had limited uptake. New tools are needed to improve provider capacity to facilitate dissemination of these evidence-based interventions.

Methods: The “Six Moments of Infection Prevention in Injection Drug Use” provider educational tool was developed using a global, rather than pathogen-specific, infection prevention framework, highlighting the prevention of invasive bacterial and fungal infections in additional to viral pathogens. The tool’s effectiveness was tested using a short, paired pre/post survey that assessed provider knowledge and attitudes about harm reduction.

Results: Seventy-five respondents completed the paired surveys. At baseline, 17 respondents (22.6%) indicated that they had received no prior training in harm reduction and 28 (37.3%) reported discomfort counseling people who inject drugs (PWID). Sixty respondents (80.0%) reported they had never referred a patient to a syringe service program (SSP); of those, 73.3% cited lack of knowledge regarding locations of SSPs and 40.0% reported not knowing where to access information regarding SSPs. After the training, 66 (88.0%) reported that they felt more comfortable educating PWID (P < .0001), 65 respondents (86.6%) reported they planned to use the Six Moments model in their own practice, and 100% said they would consider referring patients to an SSP in the future.

Conclusions: The Six Moments model emphasizes the importance of a global approach to infection prevention and harm reduction. This educational intervention can be used as part of a bundle of implementation strategies to reduce morbidity and mortality in PWID.

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