Wyoming Flashcards
**How did you get interested in the field of psychology/ Why do I want to be in this Lab
(Summarized)?
Before College:
A child with autism/epilepsy who had significant mental and physical health challenges. I saw firsthand how interconnected these two factors were to one another.
I often spent weeks at the hospital supporting my client, who often found herself experiencing significant pain.
Her family was from a very low SES. And felt they had a significant lack of resources.
I became very passionate about finding methods to help improve well-being for my client (reduce pain) and passionate about disseminating resources to clinical populations, that truly benefit from such work, like my client. This experience drove me to attend college.
I sought out numerous clinical opportunities to work with individuals from underserved communities (Farm home UCEDD, family to family). And had several opportunities to share resources with these clinical communities that benefited.
Highlight: family to family (research: chronic pain/opioids)
This experience really increased my interest in examining addiction, particularly in individuals who experience pain.
It also led me to become interested in investigating non-addictive interventions that could be used to improve the quality of life/promote the well-being for individuals in pain
Back at my UG I joined ASC lab
ACE: Studied the impact adverse childhood experiences have on college students
-Analyzed data using SPSS by conducting a reliability analysis and bivariate correlation
-Students with higher ACEs have a negative correlation to college satisfaction and quality of life
-Students with higher ACEs have a positive correlation to anxiety and depression.
From this study, I realized research was something I’m very passionate about and wanted to pursue in graduate school.
For my post bacc, I sought out intervention research work, with the hope of improving well-being for various clinical populations,
It got me very interested in examining intervention-based research work, and looking at interventions that may support individuals who have experienced significant adversities.
I joined SHAID lab as a research coordinator and developed excellent project management skills. I Had the opportunity to work on several projects but primarily worked on the SITY,
investigate sleep health before, during, and after the initiation of gender-affirming hormone therapy. This experience ignited my passion for working with underserved and marginalized communities that are often overlooked in research.
However, I really wanted to focus more on the intervention aspect so Dr. Dietch connected me with Dr. Casement at OSL.
At OSL- I helped launch 2 NIH-funded projects, that will be going on for the next 5 years. Now my time is primarily spent running participants through all of our various procedures.
We have two studies:
examined if implementing an earlier bedtime and increasing sleep duration could lead to the reduction of anhedonia and depression symptoms in adolescents or reduce risky alcohol use in young adults.
My mentors often ask me to reflect on your “why” for conducting research. Especially when you get into the thick/weeds of a challenging project.
I am very enthusiastic about your lab because it directly aligns with my research interests and my “why”.
Throughout the past 7 years, my research, academic, and clinical experiences led me to developed an interest in examining the relationship between chronic pain, stress, and substance use, particularly in young adults/ college students:
Previous Literature Review
Over time, I have developed an interest in the relationship between pain, stress, and addiction:
- Through examining some literature I’ve come to realize that a significant amount of people examine pain chronically
(When looking at America, it impacts 1 out of 5 individuals) - In my undergrad, I examined adverse childhood experience literature and saw how interconnected stress can be with overall health/wellbeing. I remember examining literature looking at the close relationship between individuals with higher ACE scores experiencing chronic pain.
- Additionally, many adults (around 70%) experience additional health impacts due to stress
Overall, I’ve come to see there definitely appears to be a close relationship between stress and chronic pain. In addition to that, both stress and chronic pain appear to be tied to substance use:
- When looking at chronic stress: About one-half of patients with substance use disorders (SUD) experience chronic pain.
- People who experience chronic pain may find relief through prescription drugs (opioids) or non-prescribed substances like cannabis, alcohol, and other drugs to control pain
- Something of interest to me: I looked into a paper that mentioned that Substance misuse appears to increase the experience of chronic stress levels
When looking at stress:
1.Stress is a key risk factor in initially becoming addicted, addiction maintenance, and relapse.
- Individuals with higher average stress levels report using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax (30% vs. 5%) compared to individuals with lower levels of stress.
Working in my current lab:
I’ve learned that Sleep and circadian characteristics appear to moderate the effect of stressful life events on alcohol use (I believe particularly sleep quality) and think this could be something to further dive into.
Also my current lab I feel has led me to become interested in conducting research with young adults including college students, who experience a significant amount of stressors which can contribute to factors such as high-risk drinking that could lead to AUD
….. after research finish here.
What appeals to you about this program?// Why are you interested in working with me?
- Working with you. I feel our research interests align, but after meeting with you, I also feel we would work very well together. My drive aligns with your lab.
“My laboratory broadly examines substance use behaviors, with a focus on college student alcohol, cannabis, and stimulant use. Much of our research aims to examine and subsequently modify cognitive and behavioral mechanisms underlying substance use, including expectancy effects, motives, and productive behavioral strategies.” - I would love to live in the beautiful state of Wyoming
- In house clinical training is a cool opportunity.
What’s a recent paper you read (relevant to lab) that you found interesting?
Chorpita Paper.
Dr. Looby paper: Challenging expectancies to prevent nonmedical prescription
stimulant use: A randomized, controlled trial
In this paper, you challeneged expectancies of non prescribed stimulant use through integrating a placebo
In this study, researchers aimed to address the issue of nonmedical prescription stimulant use among college students by testing the efficacy of an expectancy challenge intervention. The participants were 96 at-risk, stimulant-naïve college students with factors such as low grade point average, Greek involvement, binge drinking, and cannabis use. The expectancy challenge intervention aimed to modify positive expectations about prescription stimulants to discourage use.
Results indicated that the expectancy challenge successfully altered participants’ expectations regarding prescription stimulant effects. However, at the 6-month follow-up, both the intervention group and the control group demonstrated similar rates of nonmedical prescription stimulant use. Despite this, the study found that negative expectations were significant predictors of decreased likelihood of future stimulant use.
The conclusion suggests that a single challenge session can effectively modify stimulant-related expectations, which are linked to nonmedical prescription stimulant use. However, the researchers recommend exploring more potent challenges or booster sessions for achieving longer-term changes in behavior.
Research Idea #1
My study design:
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Literature review:
Expectancies for alcohol analgesia (a·nuhl·jee·zee·uh)
(i.e., expectations that drinking alcohol will reduce pain) have been associated with greater alcohol consumption among individuals with chronic pain.
Expectancies that alcohol will reduce pain are associated with heavier drinking among drinkers without pain.
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Participants:
Young adults with risky alcohol use who claim to use substances to reduce pain 18-25
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Methods:
1 prescreen phone call, 2 laboratory visits, at home assessments, and 1 online follow-up 6 months later
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Qualtrics Prescreen Survey criteria:
18-24
Risky alcohol use
Individuals currently experiencing pain (perhaps a Likert scale on how they perceive pain)
Expectancies for alcohol analgesia (EAA): expectations that drinking alcohol will reduce pain
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Zoom Prescreen:
TLFB to see Young adult who has risky alcohol use
Expectancies for alcohol analgesia (EAA) in lab survey
Consent & schedule appointment
Receive cover story that the aim of the study is to examine the effects of alcohol use on pain reduction in college students
Asked to not abstain from any intoxicating substances, food, or beverages except water for at least 8 hours prior to each study visit.
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Intervention:
Participants were randomized into expectancy challenge or control condition.
Expectancy challenge condition: participants received what they were told was alcohol on the first visit and nothing on the second visit.
Actually received a placebo on the first visit.
Control participant’s condition: did not receive any substances in either visit. (observation)
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Lab visit One:
Expectancy challenge condition:
Come into the lab and take an Expectancies for alcohol analgesia (EAA) survey (expectations that drinking alcohol will reduce pain)
Drink a placebo
Addiction Research Center Inventory Short Form (for alcohol: how is alcohol currently impacting you).
Survey to assess mood/ physiological state
Ask sleep duration/sleep quality from previous night: can take from SCISD-R or Munich
Followed by how well they believe “alcohol” actually helped with pain (Likert scale)
Demographic questionnaire
Give them a cab ride home after or have them wait a hour and take breathalyzer before they can leave.
Followed by 2 weeks of at-home assessments.
Control group:
Same process but no placebos or alcohol on lab visit.
__________________________________At Home observation:
Control group:
At Home: 14 days of at-home assessments
(perceived pain before and after drinking, perceived stress, daily alcohol use tracker).
Expectancy challenge condition: (possible: send home with placebo alcohol)?
14 days of at-home assessments: (perceived pain, perceived stress, daily alcohol use tracker)
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Lab visit two:
Following the end of the second visit, all experimental participants were debriefed and informed that they received a placebo medication.
They completed a manipulation check questionnaire including a 10-point Likert scale to assess the extent to which they believed they had ingested alcohol.
Same surveys as Lab visit 1
Expectancy intervention
Followed by 2 more weeks of at home tracking for EC condition.
Control: just complete same surveys
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EC:
2 more weeks of at-home tracking.
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Follow Up: Measure Expectancies for alcohol analgesia (EAA) and alcohol use (TLFB)
1-month follow-up via email (hasn’t been done)
6 months // debrief control group
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Useful in future research:
You can meet with participants and explain this study. Talk about expectancies as an intervention.
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Grant:
More particularly, I was really interested in the Refining and Piloting a Curriculum for College Health Providers
I feel working on a project like this could really give me a good understanding of how to pilot and test an intervention (something that greatly excites me).
I’m really interested in examining ways to more easily disseminate research findings, I feel that through health providers is an excellent method (something I’d like to be a part of).
Additional ideas to think about
- Subjective and Objective Sleep Characteristics Among Individuals Who Endorse Cannabis Use for Sleep Purposes
One-week naturalistic study employing actigraphy and daily diaries to understand differences in subjective and objective sleep characteristics (e.g., sleep onset latency) among individuals who use cannabis for sleep promotion
Nick received departmental funding for this project; data collection ongoing - Assessment of Sleep Hygiene Strategies Employed by Regular Cannabis Users
Two-week naturalistic study employing daily diaries to examine sleep hygiene strategies regularly employed by cannabis users, whether these strategies vary at the daily level based on daily cannabis use, and impact on subjective sleep quality
Nick’s dissertation; currently in data collection
Sleep expectancy that marijuana will improve sleep.
The study suggests that interventions targeting specific motives for marijuana use, including coping and sleep motives, may be beneficial
Same study as above but looking at sleep motives (or expectancies). Give individuals a placebo marijuana pill and have them rate their expectation that it will help them sleep before bed and after bed Expectancy.
