Publications of the Technology and Translational Research Unit.
2023 |
Curtis, Brenda; Giorgi, Salvatore; Ungar, Lyle; Vu, Huy; Yaden, David; Liu, Tingting; Yadeta, Kenna; Schwartz, H Andrew AI-based analysis of social media language predicts addiction treatment dropout at 90 days Journal Article In: Neuropsychopharmacology, 2023, ISSN: 1740-634X. @article{pmid37095253, The reoccurrence of use (relapse) and treatment dropout is frequently observed in substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. In the current paper, we evaluated the predictive capability of an AI-based digital phenotype using the social media language of patients receiving treatment for substance use disorders (N = 269). We found that language phenotypes outperformed a standard intake psychometric assessment scale when predicting patients' 90-day treatment outcomes. We also use a modern deep learning-based AI model, Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) to generate risk scores using pre-treatment digital phenotype and intake clinic data to predict dropout probabilities. Nearly all individuals labeled as low-risk remained in treatment while those identified as high-risk dropped out (risk score for dropout AUC = 0.81; p < 0.001). The current study suggests the possibility of utilizing social media digital phenotypes as a new tool for intake risk assessment to identify individuals most at risk of treatment dropout and relapse. |
2022 |
Fisher, Celia B; Tao, Xiangyu; Liu, Tingting; Giorgi, Salvatore; Curtis, Brenda L COVID-Related Victimization, Racial Bias and Employment and Housing Disruption Increase Mental Health Risk Among US Asian, Black and Latinx Adults Journal Article In: Frontiers in Public Health, pp. 1625, 2022. @article{fishercovid, |
Bragard, Elise; Giorgi, Salvatore; Juneau, Paul; Curtis, Brenda L. Daily diary study of loneliness, alcohol, and drug use during the COVID-19 Pandemic Journal Article In: Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, vol. n/a, no. n/a, 2022. @article{bragard2022dialydiary, Abstract Background Research conducted during the COVID-19 Pandemic has identified two co-occurring public health concerns: loneliness and substance use. Findings from research conducted prior to the pandemic are inconclusive as to the links between loneliness and substance use. This study aimed to measure associations of loneliness with three different types of substance use during COVID-19: daily number of alcoholic drinks, cannabis use, and non-cannabis drug use. Method Data were obtained between October 2020 and May 2021 from 2,648 US adults (Mage = 38.76, 65.4% women) diverse with respect to race and ethnicity using online recruitment. Participants completed baseline surveys and daily assessments for 30 days. A daily loneliness measure was recoded into separate within- and between-person predictor variables. Daily outcome measures included the number of alcoholic drinks consumed and dichotomous cannabis and non-cannabis drug use variables. Generalized linear multilevel models (GLMLM) were used to examine within- and between-person associations between loneliness and substance use. Results The unconditional means model indicated that 59.0% of the variance in the daily number of alcoholic drinks was due to within-person variability. GLMLM analyses revealed that, overall, people drank more on days when they felt a particularly high or particularly low degree of loneliness (positive quadratic effect). There was a negative and significant within-person association between daily loneliness and the likelihood of cannabis use. There was also a positive and significant within-person association between daily loneliness and the likelihood of non-cannabis drug use. Conclusions Associations between loneliness and substance use vary with substance type and whether within- or between-person differences are assessed. These findings are relevant to the persistence of substance use disorders and thus of potential clinical importance. Individuals who do not experience severe loneliness at intake but who show daily increases in loneliness above baseline levels are at heightened risk of alcohol and non-cannabis drug use. Future research could profitably examine just-in-time adaptive interventions that assess fluctuations in loneliness to prevent the development or exacerbation of substance use disorders. |
Liu, Tingting; Ungar, Lyle H.; Curtis, Brenda; Sherman, Garrick; Yadeta, Kenna; Tay, Louis; Eichstaedt, Johannes C.; Guntuku, Sharath Chandra Head versus heart: social media reveals differential language of loneliness from depression Journal Article In: npj Mental Health Research, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 16, 2022, ISBN: 2731-4251. @article{Liu:2022aa, We study the language differentially associated with loneliness and depression using 3.4-million Facebook posts from 2986 individuals, and uncover the statistical associations of survey-based depression and loneliness with both dictionary-based (Linguistic Inquiry Word Count 2015) and open-vocabulary linguistic features (words, phrases, and topics). Loneliness and depression were found to have highly overlapping language profiles, including sickness, pain, and negative emotions as (cross-sectional) risk factors, and social relationships and activities as protective factors. Compared to depression, the language associated with loneliness reflects a stronger cognitive focus, including more references to cognitive processes (i.e., differentiation and tentative language, thoughts, and the observation of irregularities), and cognitive activities like reading and writing. As might be expected, less lonely users were more likely to reference social relationships (e.g., friends and family, romantic relationships), and use first-person plural pronouns. Our findings suggest that the mechanisms of loneliness include self-oriented cognitive activities (i.e., reading) and an overattention to the interpretation of information in the environment. These data-driven ecological findings suggest interventions for loneliness that target maladaptive social cognitions (e.g., through reframing the perception of social environments), strengthen social relationships, and treat other affective distress (i.e., depression). |
Giorgi, Salvatore; Himelein-wachowiak, Mckenzie; Habib, Daniel; Ungar, Lyle; Curtis, Brenda Nonsuicidal Self-Injury and Substance Use Disorders: A Shared Language of Addiction Inproceedings In: Proceedings of the Eighth Workshop on Computational Linguistics and Clinical Psychology, pp. 177–183, Association for Computational Linguistics, Seattle, USA, 2022. @inproceedings{nokey, Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), or the deliberate injuring of one?s body without intending to die, has been shown to exhibit many similarities to substance use disorders (SUDs), including population-level characteristics, impulsivity traits, and comorbidity with other mental disorders. Research has further shown that people who self-injure adopt language common in SUD recovery communities (e.g., {``}clean{''}, {``}relapse{''}, {``}addiction,{''} and celebratory language about sobriety milestones). In this study, we investigate the shared language of NSSI and SUD by comparing discussions on public Reddit forums related to self-injury and drug addiction. To this end, we build a set of LDA topics across both NSSI and SUD Reddit users and show that shared language across the two domains includes SUD recovery language in addition to other themes common to support forums (e.g., requests for help and gratitude). Next, we examine Reddit-wide posting activity and note that users posting in {emph{r/selfharm} also post in many mental health-related subreddits, while users of drug addiction related subreddits do not, despite high comorbidity between NSSI and SUDs. These results show that while people who self-injure may contextualize their disorder as an addiction, their posting habits demonstrate comorbidities with other mental disorders more so than their counterparts in recovery from SUDs. These observations have clinical implications for people who self-injure and seek support by sharing their experiences online. |
Giorgi, Salvatore; Guntuku, Sharath Chandra; Himelein-Wachowiak, Mckenzie; Kwarteng, Amy; Hwang, Sy; Rahman, Muhammad; Curtis, Brenda Twitter Corpus of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement and Counter Protests: 2013 to 2021 Journal Article In: Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 1228-1235, 2022. @article{giorgi2022twitter, |
Bragard, Elise; Giorgi, Salvatore; Juneau, Paul; Curtis, Brenda L Loneliness and Daily Alcohol Consumption During the COVID-19 Pandemic Journal Article In: Alcohol and Alcoholism, 2022. @article{bragard2021loneliness, |
Devoto, Amanda; Himelein-Wachowiak, McKenzie; Liu, Tingting; Curtis, Brenda Women's Substance Use and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic Journal Article In: Women's Health Issues, 2022. @article{devoto2022women, |
"Himelein-Wachowiak, McKenzie; Giorgi, Salvatore; Kwarteng, Amy; Schriefer, Destiny; Smitterberg, Chase; Yadeta, Kenna; Bragard, Elise; Devoto, Amanda; Ungar, Lyle; Curtis, Brenda" Getting 'clean' from nonsuicidal self-injury: Experiences of addiction on the subreddit r/selfharm Journal Article In: Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 2022. @article{himeleinwachowiak2022getting, |
Jose, Rupa; Matero, Matthew; Sherman, Garrick; Curtis, Brenda; Giorgi, Salvatore; Schwartz, Hansen Andrew; Ungar, Lyle H. Using Facebook language to predict and describe excessive alcohol use Journal Article In: Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, vol. 46, no. 5, pp. 836-847, 2022. @article{jose2022using, Abstract Background Assessing risk for excessive alcohol use is important for applications ranging from recruitment into research studies to targeted public health messaging. Social media language provides an ecologically embedded source of information for assessing individuals who may be at risk for harmful drinking. Methods Using data collected on 3664 respondents from the general population, we examine how accurately language used on social media classifies individuals as at-risk for alcohol problems based on Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test-Consumption score benchmarks. Results We find that social media language is moderately accurate (area under the curve = 0.75) at identifying individuals at risk for alcohol problems (i.e., hazardous drinking/alcohol use disorders) when used with models based on contextual word embeddings. High-risk alcohol use was predicted by individuals' usage of words related to alcohol, partying, informal expressions, swearing, and anger. Low-risk alcohol use was predicted by individuals' usage of social, affiliative, and faith-based words. Conclusions The use of social media data to study drinking behavior in the general public is promising and could eventually support primary and secondary prevention efforts among Americans whose at-risk drinking may have otherwise gone ``under the radar.'' |
Liu, Tingting; Giorgi, Salvatore; Yadeta, Kenna; Schwartz, H Andrew; Ungar, Lyle H; Curtis, Brenda Linguistic predictors from Facebook postings of substance use disorder treatment retention versus discontinuation Journal Article In: The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, pp. 1–13, 2022. @article{liu2022linguistic, |
2021 |
Himelein-Wachowiak, McKenzie; Giorgi, Salvatore; Devoto, Amanda; Rahman, Muhammad; Ungar, Lyle; Schwartz, H Andrew; Epstein, David H; Leggio, Lorenzo; Curtis, Brenda Bots and Misinformation Spread on Social Media: Implications for COVID-19 Journal Article In: J Med Internet Res, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. e26933, 2021, ISSN: 1438-8871. @article{himeleinwachowiak2021covid, |
Panlilio, Leigh V; Stull, Samuel W; Bertz, Jeremiah W; Burgess-Hull, Albert J; Lanza, Stephanie T; Curtis, Brenda L; Phillips, Karran A; Epstein, David H; Preston, Kenzie L Beyond abstinence and relapse II: momentary relationships between stress, craving, and lapse within clusters of patients with similar patterns of drug use Journal Article In: Psychopharmacology, vol. 238, no. 6, pp. 1513–1529, 2021. @article{panlilio2021beyond, |
Delgado, Mucio Kit; Shofer, Frances; Wetherill, Reagan; Curtis, Brenda; Hemmons, Jessica; Spencer, Evan; Branas, Charles; Wiebe, Douglas J; Kranzler, Henry R Accuracy of Consumer-marketed smartphone-paired alcohol breath testing devices: A laboratory validation study Journal Article In: Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, vol. 45, no. 5, pp. 1091–1099, 2021. @article{delgado2021accuracy, |
Moon, Andrew M; Curtis, Brenda; Mandrekar, Pranoti; Singal, Ashwani K; Verna, Elizabeth C; Fix, Oren K Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease Before and After COVID-19---An Overview and Call for Ongoing Investigation Journal Article In: Hepatology communications, vol. 5, no. 9, pp. 1616–1621, 2021. @article{moon2021alcohol, |
Kwarteng, Amy E; Rahman, Muhammad M; Gee, Dylan G; Infante, M Alejandra; Tapert, Susan F; Curtis, Brenda L Child reward neurocircuitry and parental substance use history: Findings from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study Journal Article In: Addictive Behaviors, vol. 122, pp. 107034, 2021. @article{kwarteng2021child, |
McKay, James R; Gustafson, David H; Ivey, Megan; Pe-Romashko, Klaren; Curtis, Brenda; Thomas, Tyrone; Oslin, David W; Polsky, Daniel; Quanbeck, Andrew; Lynch, Kevin G Efficacy and comparative effectiveness of telephone and smartphone remote continuing care interventions for alcohol use disorder: a randomized controlled trial Journal Article In: Addiction, 2021. @article{mckay2021efficacy, |
Shaw, Philip; Blizzard, Sam; Shastri, Gauri; Kundzicz, Paul; Curtis, Brenda; Ungar, Lyle; Koehly, Laura A daily diary study into the effects on mental health of COVID-19 pandemic-related behaviors Journal Article In: Psychological Medicine, pp. 1–9, 2021. @article{shaw2021daily, |
2020 |
Pasipanodya, Elizabeth C.; Kohli, Maulika; Fisher, Celia B.; Moore, David J.; Curtis, Brenda In: Harm Reduction Journal, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 41, 2020, ISBN: 1477-7517. @article{cite-keye, Methamphetamine use poses a barrier to antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence. Black and Hispanic men who have sex with men living with HIV (PLWH) shoulder much of the health burden resulting from the methamphetamine and HIV syndemic. Smartphones are nearly ubiquitous in the USA and may be promising vehicles for delivering interventions for ART adherence and drug use cessation. However, the acceptability of using applications to collect sensitive information and deliver feedback in this population has not been adequately explored. |
Hubach, Randolph D; O'Neil, Andrew; Stowe, Mollie; Giano, Zachary; Curtis, Brenda; Fisher, Celia B In: Arch Sex Behav, pp. 1-10, 2020, ISSN: 1573-2800 (Electronic); 0004-0002 (Linking). @article{Hubach:2020aa, Although men who have sex with men (MSM) within rural communities are disproportionately impacted by HIV, limited HIV research and programmatic resources are directed to these communities within the U.S. There is a need for improved behavioral data collection methods to obtain more detailed information on the relationship between rural environments, sexual behavior, and substance use. Utilization of mobile health (mHealth) technologies, such as ecologic momentary assessment (EMA), has been advocated for; however, limited research has evaluated its utility among rural MSM. Forty MSM residing in rural Oklahoma were recruited to complete in-depth interviews related to participating online/mobile-based HIV prevention research. Men described a willingness to participate in HIV and substance use studies that use EMA methodologies for data collection; however, they raised various research-related concerns. In particular, participants indicated potential privacy and confidentiality concerns related to the use of the mobile technology-based EMA in public and the storage of data by researchers. Given the varying degree of sexual orientation and substance use disclosure by participants, rural MSM were largely concerned with being inadvertently "outed" within their communities. Men described the various strategies they could employ to protect private information and methods to minimize research risk. Study findings suggest that EMA is an acceptable research methodology for use among rural MSM in the context of HIV and sexual health information, when privacy and confidentiality concerns are adequately addressed. Input from community members and stakeholders is necessary to identify potential areas of concerns for participants prior to data collection. |