Culturally enhancing a group-based motivational interviewing substance use prevention program for Latine youth.

Background: Group Motivational Interviewing for Teens (GMIT) has been effective in reducing youth substance use in diverse communities, yet more research is needed to determine its efficacy in reducing tobacco and alternative tobacco products (ATP) use among Latine adolescents. This study modified GMIT to include a focus on ATPs (GMIT-ATP). GMIT was also linguistically translated so it could be offered in English and Spanish, culturally enhanced, and parent sessions were added (GMIT-ATP + P). Methods: The study's aims were to 1) Develop a model of how cultural context, family relationships, and adolescent tobacco-related skills/beliefs are associated with smoking and ATP use; 2) Examine the impact of the GMIT-ATP intervention on adolescent tobacco use; 3) Examine whether the GMIT-ATP + P intervention improves family/parenting factors associated with reduced adolescent tobacco use; 4) Examine whether GMIT-ATP + P is more effective than GMIT-ATP in improving adolescent tobacco use; 5) Explore whether essential components of our behavior change model mediate the impact on tobacco use, and 6) Explore whether cultural factors influence the impacts of our intervention. Latine adolescents (ages 10-16) and their parents/guardians were recruited throughout Virginia. Parents and adolescents completed three surveys: before and immediately after the program ends and at 3-months post-intervention. Families attended 3 GMIT-ATP or GMIT-ATP + P sessions. Conclusion: Findings from this study will be disseminated in Latine communities and with providers working with Latine youth and can serve as a community-based model to reduce substance and tobacco use (e.g., ATP) in these Latine communities.

Focus variation due to near infrared laser in a confocal microscope.

Focus precision and stability is crucial in confocal microscopy not only for image sharpness but also to avoid radiometric fluctuations that can wrongly be interpreted as variations of the fluorescence intensity in the sample. Here we report a focus variation provoked by a continuous wave laser of 810-nm wavelength introduced along the optical path of an inverted confocal microscope with an oil immersion ×60 objective. When the laser is turned on or off, the focus position drifts toward lower or high values of the vertical coordinate z, respectively. The maximum drift observed was 2.25 ðœ‡m for a laser power of 40 mW at the sample and over a 600-s exposure time. The temporal evolution of the focus position is well fitted by exponential curves that mimic temperature variations due to a heat source. Our analysis strongly suggests that the focus drift is due to heating of the immersion oil.

Integrating Tobacco Prevention Skills into an Evidence-Based Intervention for Adolescents with ADHD: Results from a Pilot Efficacy Randomized Controlled Trial.

Adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at high risk for tobacco use, but tobacco use prevention strategies are not regularly incorporated into evidence-based ADHD interventions. We conducted a pilot randomized-controlled trial to determine the feasibility of integrating tobacco use prevention skills into a behavioral treatment for ADHD and to provide preliminary efficacy data comparing a combined (ADHD + tobacco) intervention (N = 40) to an ADHD only intervention (N = 23) on tobacco risk outcomes. Sixty-three adolescents (72% male; 13-17 years) with ADHD and their caregivers were randomly assigned to condition and families were masked to condition. Parent and adolescent ratings were collected at baseline, immediate post-intervention, and at 3- and 9-month follow-up assessments. The combined intervention was (1) implemented with high fidelity (94%), (2) well received by parents and adolescents as evidenced by high levels of treatment attendance (82%) and satisfaction with the intervention, and (3) associated with parent- and adolescent-reported reductions in tobacco use risk. Relative to the ADHD intervention, the combined intervention buffered against increases in tobacco risk, including reduced intentions to smoke and maladaptive social normative beliefs, and increased parental control, family cohesion, and family communication about substance use. Effect sizes at post-treatment were in the small to moderate range. Overall, this study provides preliminary support for a parent-adolescent behavioral treatment supplemented with family-based tobacco prevention strategies. This approach targets families already in treatment for ADHD, reducing barriers that occur when families attend multi-session prevention programs in addition to ADHD treatment.

The relation between body image perceptions, parental messages, and depressive symptoms among Latinx college students.

OBJECTIVES: This study examines the role of parental messages about body image in relation to body image dissatisfaction (BID) and depressive symptoms among Latinx college students. We assessed negative and positive messages about body image from mothers and fathers to examine the indirect effect of BID in explaining links from parental communication to depressive symptoms. METHOD: The sample included 198 Latinx college students in the southeastern United States (age range 18-25, 70% female). We used four mediation models, whereby parental comments were modeled to affect depressive symptoms through BID. RESULTS: Results indicated that although there was no direct effect between parental messages and depressive symptoms, both negative maternal and paternal comments had indirect effects on depressive symptoms via BID. CONCLUSIONS: Parental messages about body image have significant implications for understanding the etiology of BID and concomitant depressive symptoms among Latinx college students. The findings highlight the important role of parental communication in Latinx student health and the need for future studies to better understand Latinx college students' interpretations of their parents' positive and negative comments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Conducting an Integrative Health Interview.

Complementary medicine incorporates the use of non-evidence-based complementary modalities into conventional (Western) medicine. Alternative medicines are approaches that are used in place of conventional medicine. Integrative medicine is the synthesis of conventional medical treatments with "evidence-based" complementary medical practices. When complementary approaches are incorporated into mainstream health care, it is called integrative health (IH). Among children and adults, IH is common despite not all therapies being safe and/or effective. Clinicians have suboptimal knowledge of their patients' IH use because, in part, they do not know what questions to ask and/or do not have a standard intake form to collect an IH history, as recently demonstrated by an American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology membership survey. To address this unmet need, a group of Complementary and Alternative Practice in Allergy Committee members and interprofessional collaborators reviewed the existing literature to locate IH history forms that could assist in identifying patients' IH use. When none was located, the group created 3 templates for the systematic collection and documentation of IH practices: 2 general screening surveys that could be given to patients to complete before an appointment and a third template that provides the clinician with open-ended questions to help uncover IH practices in culturally diverse patient populations. Specialists, already acknowledged as skillful interviewers, can expand their patient-centered expertise by developing their own IH competencies.