A pilot study of ambulatory Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback for substance use disorder

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT In early substance use disorder recovery, everyday experiences of negative affect and substance-related cues often serve as triggers for substance use that appear automatic and bypass patients’ cognitive plans and conscious intentions not to use. A central goal of frontline cognitive-behavioral substance use disorder treatments is to strengthen affective and cognitive control to increase individuals’ ability to override impulses to use substances. Yet, automatic physiological processes compromised by substance use disorder interact with internal affective states and environmental cues to undermine effortful cognitive control and outcompete goals to avoid substance use. This combination undermines the potential efficacy of frontline treatments and introduces the need for treatment adjuncts that might support better regulate affect and bolster cognitive control. One potential treatment adjunct is Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback. The goal of this diversity supplement application is to support the training and career development of Sara Mei. Her long-term career objective is to establish an independent program of research that focused on identifying and monitoring affective and psychophysiological mechanisms of substance use with mobile technology to improve just-in-time intervention and prevention methods generalizable to a wide range of populations. The research plan complements the mentoring goals by providing a vehicle for increasing her addiction research expertise in: 1) psychophysiological mechanisms and methods, 2) ambulatory assessment approaches, 3) advanced statistical techniques, and 4) manuscript writing and the dissemination of scientific work. This diversity supplement will support the candidate with specialized training and protected research time to enhance her research capability and provide opportunities for career development as a productive researcher. The candidate will join the research team of the parent grant as a research assistant and conduct the research under the supervision of Dr. David Eddie, PhD, and the parent grant’s team of Co-Is to gain the expertise needed to establish her nascent program of research. Ultimately, this training will prepare the candidate to establish a line of independent research that integrates ambulatory assessment of affective and psychophysiological mechanisms of relapse risk. The diversity supplement will allow the candidate to dedicate her time to the proposed activities aimed at enhancing her research capability and independence as an investigator, which will thereby increase the number of underrepresented research faculty conducting research in the field of addiction research. Moreover, this supplement is consistent with NIH's goal of increasing and maintaining a strong cohort of investigators to address the nation's clinical research needs.