Alex Nelson, “Efficacy of Computerized Attentional Bias Modification of E-Cigarette Use Behaviors among Transitional Age Youth: The Beginnings of a Cross-Sectional Study”
Mentors: Joshua Gwon, Nursing and Han Joo Lee, Psychology
In 2018, 3.2% (8.1 million) U.S. adults reported current e-cigarette use, and in 2020, 19.6% of high school students (3.02 million) and 4.7% of middle school students (550,000) reported current e-cigarette use. E-cigarette use among this demographic is increasingly becoming a pervasive public health concern lending itself to emergent health maladies (e.g., chemical pneumonitis). This study aims to actualize and redirect attentional bias, or an elevated attention to stimuli with enhanced saliency/relevance for individuals. Previous psychopathologies have shown effectiveness in the attentional retraining of participants battling other maladaptive behaviors, specifically modalities of addiction (e.g., alcohol). Predicated on prior concept analyses, we aim to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of a novel computerized attentional bias modification (CABM) program to promote disengagement from potent e-cigarette cues bombarding this demographic. Participants will engage in a five-part, two-arm online program consisting of pre-training, post-training, and three-month follow up assessments in tandem with randomized division of participants into either CABM or placebo training over a four-week period. Assessments are designed to temporally quantify instances of attentional bias – or fluctuations in decision-making ability given the presence of salient stimuli – and relate them to concurrent training sessions. Self-reported data gathered from the post-training and three-month follow-up assessments will be analyzed in relation to the pre-training assessment in order to gauge the effectiveness in attentional bias modification of participants using the CABM program compared to the control group. Given any statistically significant improvements, we aim to publish a computerized attentional retraining protocol capable of modifying the attentional allocation of active e-cigarette users away from potent environmental cues, allowing users the capacity to disengage from deleterious behaviors and live a healthier life. Aside from this resource’s applicability to an emergent psychopathology, we believe in its precedential ability in the similarly emergent field of attentional bias modification as an addiction treatment protocol. The pragmatic application of evidence from empirical investigations and clinical trials will serve to promote health outcomes (nicotine-free behavior) within the population.
Hello,
Welcome to my presentation on the Efficacy of Computerized Attentional Bias Modification of E-Cigarette Use Behaviors among Transitional Age Youth. My name is Alex Nelson, and I am a second-year Biological Sciences major, enrolled in the Honors College, and pursuing a pre-medicine track here at UWM. My continued involvement within this project’s scope, a transdisciplinary collaboration between arenas of public health, nursing, and psychology, has covered seven months now. While first introduced to undergraduate research through UR@UWM, I ultimately entered into SURF through collaboration with my PI, Dr. Gwon, and with the incredibly helpful staff of the Office of Undergraduate Research, whom I work for concurrently. Given extraneous implications and confounds posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, our project was unable to recruit participants and administer training this presentation cycle. Consequently, as mentioned in the presentation, I will provide helpful context to understanding attentional bias and applied cognitive processing therapies in the world of addiction psychotherapy, an overview of our methodological framework and transdisciplinary approach, as well as an analysis regarding the objectives surrounding (including the pragmatic significance of) our imminent cross-sectional design. Participant recruitments and psychophysiological data collection will formally begin this upcoming summer and fall, respectively, and will focus on determining the overarching efficacy of CABM in retraining active e-cigarette users to implicitly disengage from potent environmental cues and promote salutary health outcomes. This study is predicated on prior concept analyses and pilot studies (see my SURF colleague Peyton Bendis for more information) targeted at understanding attentional bias as it pertains to novel modalities of nicotine addiction (i.e., ENDS-use) among a transitional age demographic. I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to view my preliminary work. Thank you!
*If you would be interested in a more in-depth look at my research and its current state-of-affairs, or would enjoy a .pdf copy of this presentation, please reach out to me at nelso624@uwm.edu. Thank you.
Clear explanation of a complex research and intervention protocol. I particularly liked that the student contextualized the relevance of the proposed project. Some further simplifications may help to make the project more accessible to non-psychologists. Nonetheless, I am impressed and interested to know the results of the study once it is completed.
Thank you, and I sincerely appreciate the feedback. I look forward to discussing the pragmatic, quantitative implications of our work come next spring. Again, do not hesitate to reach out for more clarification, artifacts, or simple discussion. I would be happy to help!
Hey Alex,
I’m a research assistant in Dr. Han-Joo Lee’s lab and also have experience in ABM. I believe you did a really great job at being thorough in discussing ABM. I really enjoyed your presentation and it is great to see other RAs working in the realm of ABM and CABM. As you have mentioned, the prevalence of e-cigarette use is common, therefore I find the study you presented to be especially important. Thanks for being so informative, this was an excellent presentation.
Thank you, Carli. I truly appreciate your remarks and look forward to continuing my work in both domains of public health nursing and transitional age youth psychology. I deeply enjoy working with Dr. Han-Joo Lee and hope we are able to collaborate in the future!