Developing an Advanced Technology for Emotion and Affective Change ePlatform (AT-REACH) for People Recovering from Substance Use Disorders

Led by Dr. Dennis McChargueUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln

Study Overview:

The current proposal aims to create and test a novel web-based and smartphone accessible emotional regulation training for homeless recovering from substance use disorders that reside in residential treatment facilities. After creating the ePlatform training app using co-creation methods with stakeholders and computer scientist in Year 1 (Aim 1), researcher will test the hypothesis that a somatic avatar training practiced and reinforced daily across time (30 days) via the smartphone accessible ePlatform will produce greater improvements in emotion regulation skills as compared with a recall only control condition (Aim 2). To accomplish this goal, we will recruit 40 residential treatment participants (20 male; 20 female) across 8 months in Year 2 of the grant. Lastly, we aim to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate the usability, accessibility, and potential applicability of the emotion regulation training among study participants and treatment staff following the RCT. This project will provide foundational evidence of a novel treatment paradigm applied to a marginalized population at high risk of relapse due to emotion dysregulation challenges.

Specific Aims:

The current application is viewed as an essential capacity building effort critical to developing a program of research in just-in-time, adaptive interventions (JITAI)29 that operantly condition adaptive coping behaviors. The overarching aim is to create a highly secure ePlatform where CRF residents access a socially and individually reinforced emotion regulation intervention via a mobile device. The ePlatform specific aims are three-fold through using mixed methods and a co-creation process with stakeholders (residents and treatment staff):

(Aim 1): Develop prototype of a mobile accessible emotion regulation ePlatform with assessment, access, and interactive capabilities using feedback from focus group interviews with stakeholders. (Yr1)

(Aim 2): Collect Phase I RCT feasibility data that the ePlatform via mobile delivery enhances and reinforces adaptive emotion regulation abilities through daily emotional processing practice among 40 residents (20 male; 20 female) across a four-week period. (Yr2)

(Aim 3): : Qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate perceptions of acceptability, usability, and applicability of the mobile accessible ePlatform emotion regulation training from stakeholders. (Yr2)

Study Sample Population:

Community Members who reside in a transitional living facility for those recovering from substance use disorders.

Unique Study Procedures:

Employing a novel phone app that reinforces emotion regulation skills taught in yoga training. The use of animated digital humans that represent the emotions experiences in the yoga training. Uploading animated digital humans on AT-REACH app for emotional process to evoke somatic memories of yoga training.

Long-Term Goals:

To develop a process of reinforcing and expanding emotion regulation practices with a person’s nature environment using mhealth technologies. Establish a mhealth treatment that reduces relapse risk among those recovering from substance use disorders.


Photo of Dennis McChargue title=
Dennis McChargue

Dr. Dennis McCharguePROJECT Director

Dr. McChargue is a Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training for the Clinical Psychology Training Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. McChargue received his doctoral training at Oklahoma State University with a clinical psychology internship at the Boston VAMC Consortium, which houses one of the National Centers for PTSD. He was later a postdoctoral fellow and research faculty member with a joint appointment at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Hines VAMC. Dr. McChargue’s primary expertise is in understanding biobehavioral mechanisms that bind substance use with mental illness and hinder recovery from substance use patterns.

Full Dennis McChargue bio




Use of Omega-3 Fatty Acids to Inhibit Drug-Induced Inflammation and Synaptic Alterations

Led by Dr. Jana PonceUniversity of Nebraska Medical Center

Study Overview:

Repeated exposure to psychostimulants, including methamphetamine (METH), induces a chronic inflammatory state and synaptic alterations which are associated with psychological and behavioral deficits as well as neurodegenerative diseases. Emerging evidence suggests an essential role for neuroinflammation3 and synaptic plasticity in promoting addiction-related brain and behavioral deficits for which there are currently no effective pharmacological treatments. This study aims to research how omega (n)-3 fatty acids (FA) impact behavioral deficits through resolution of inflammation and synaptic alterations in people suffering from METH-substance use disorder (SUD), a population at risk for both n-3 FA deficiency and neuroinflammation. Our overarching hypothesis is dietary n-3 FA mitigates METH-induced neuroinflammation, synaptic alterations and subsequent behavior changes.

Specific Aims:

(Aim 1): Determine if dietary n-3 FA supplementation mitigates METH-induced systemic inflammation.

(Aim 2): Investigate the impact of n-3 FA supplementation on mechanisms associated with chronic METH-induced synaptic alterations and behavior changes.

Study Sample Population:

These preclinical experiments will be conducted in male and female Sprague Dawley rats (24 males and 24 females).

Unique Study Procedures:

Sprague Dawley rats will be randomly assigned to receive either normal diet (ND) or enhanced diet (ED). For the latter, soybean oil from the base diet is replaced with an oil containing omega-3 fatty acids, providing the animals with approximately 1.4% of their total caloric intake strictly from the omega-3 fatty acid DHA.

Long-Term Goals:

The long-term goal of this research are to identify novel mechanisms associated with neuroinflammation and resulting behavior change in order to develop non-invasive, non-addictive and low-cost therapeutic intervention strategies for individuals with SUD.


Photo of Jana Ponce title=
Jana Ponce

Dr. Jana PoncePROJECT Director

Dr. Jana Ponce is a Registered Dietitian and an Assistant professor in the Medical Nutrition Education Division of the College of Allied Health Professions at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Her background is in clinical nutrition with a current research agenda focused on the impact of nutrition interventions in improving neurologic outcomes and inflammation in chronic disease.

Full Jana Ponce bio




The Serotonin 5-HT2AR, a Novel Non-Opioid Target for Opioid Use Disorder

Led by Erik GarciaUniversity of Nebraska Omaha

Study Overview:

This project seeks to uncover a non-opioid target that is 1) functionally unaffected by chronic administration of oxycodone and 2) able to reduce the reinforcing value of oxycodone. Together these properties would have the capability to decrease the abuse potential of prescription opioids.

Specific Aims:

(Aim 1): Determine the functional status of the 5-HT2AR following oxycodone exposure.

(Aim 2): Uncover the efficacy of the 5-HT2AR to exert control of oxycodone reinforcement.

Study Sample Population:

These preclinical experiments will be conducted in male and female rats..

Unique Study Procedures:

This project utilizes strong behavioral neuropharmacology experiments to provide insights into the neural mechanisms of opioid reinforcement. Dr. Garcia will use statistical modeling and theoretical frameworks borrowed from behavioral economics to analyze the extent to which the 5-HT2AR modifies oxycodone consumption.

Long-Term Goals:

The long-term goal of this project is to develop a new class of selective and therapeutically useful 5-HT2AR small molecules for the treatment of opioid use and substance use disorders. The pilot grant will reveal the extent to which the 5-HT2AR reduces oxycodone reinforcement value. This project will have a lasting impact because prescription opioids are effective analgesics but have the potential for abuse. These experiments may reveal that 5-HT2AR drugs could be used to reduce the abuse potential of prescription opioid medications, making them safer for chronic use.


Photo of Erik Garcia title=
Erik Garcia

Erik GarciaPROJECT Director

In Fall 2021, Dr. Garcia started his career as Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Behavior at the University of Nebraska Omaha. He researches the neurobiological mechanisms that dictate the consumption of rewards and reinforcers. After completing his doctoral degree in Experimental Psychology (Behavioral Neuroscience), he went to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston to complete his postdoctoral training. There in the laboratory of Kathryn Cunningham, Ph.D., he researched serotonin and other G protein-coupled receptors families. Dr. Garcia helped reveal a novel series of 5-HT2CR and 5-HT2AR allosteric modulators that alter high-fat food consumption and cocaine and fentanyl relapse.

Full Erik Garcia bio




The Impact of Parental Alcohol Use on Child Emotion Socialization Across the Transition to Formal Schooling

Led by Becca BrockUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln

Study Overview:

Parental alcohol use has the potential to negatively impact child development by undermining adaptive emotion regulation, a transdiagnostic predictor of later psychopathology. For example, acute alcohol intoxication can undermine a parent’s sensitivity and responsiveness when a child is distressed, compromising a parent’s ability to teach adaptive emotion regulation skills.

Parents who use alcohol to regulate their own emotions might also model alcohol use as a way of coping with distress, which could shape a child’s own alcohol expectancies and motives for drinking. However, few studies have directly investigated the potential for parental alcohol use—even use that does not rise to the level of abuse—to undermine the process through which parents socialize their children to their emotions and, in turn, the development of emotion regulation skills in children.

The objective of this project is to determine the impact of parental alcohol use on emotion socialization across the transition to formal schooling, a key developmental period when children depend on emotion regulation skills to confront new academic and socioemotional challenges in the context of increasing autonomy. The central hypothesis to be tested is that parental alcohol use patterns across this transition will undermine key dimensions of emotion socialization (i.e., modeling of adaptive emotion regulation skills, a safe and secure family emotional climate, supportive parenting behaviors in response to child distress).

Specific Aims:

(Aim 1): Determine the impact of parental alcohol use on emotion socialization of the child following the transition into formal schooling. We will use lab-based paradigms, behavioral observations, and surveys to assess emotion socialization. We hypothesize that more frequent and heavy alcohol consumption and more alcohol-related impairments, such as failing to meet responsibilities, when children are three to eight will be associated with greater deficits in emotion socialization at age eight. We also expect that greater parental motives and expectancies for drinking alcohol to avoid emotions will correlate with poorer emotion socialization.

(Aim 2): Establish the accuracy, feasibility, and validity of a next-generation continuous-time interaction and responsive ecological momentary assessment to assess real-world and real-time emotion socialization. We will pilot an adaptation of the RDAR Center’s Open Dynamic Interaction Network (ODIN) technology to measure emotion socialization processes to determine the impact of long-term patterns of parental alcohol use on these dynamic, daily socialization processes. We will examine (a) accuracy in detecting parent-child interactions by tracking proximity using Bluetooth capabilities (i.e., true positive rates), (b) feasibility, as indicated by response rates to survey prompts following detected interactions, and (c) incremental predictive validity of ODIN scores in explaining child emotion regulation beyond established measures of emotion socialization.

Study Sample Population:

An existing cohort of 151 families who have participated in a long-term longitudinal study spanning pregnancy to preschool will be leveraged.

Unique Study Procedures:

Longitudinal, Responsive Ecological Momentary Assessments, Child Narratives of Family Experiences, Behavioral Observations

Long-Term Goals:

Our long-term goal is to identify modifiable factors within the family, including parental behaviors such as alcohol use, that impact child development and self-regulation.


Photo of Becca Brock title=
Becca Brock

Becca BrockPROJECT Director

Dr. Brock received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Iowa. She is a faculty member in the Clinical Psychology Training Program, the Quantitative Training Coordinator in the Department of Psychology, and the director of the UNL Family Development Lab. She is also associate editor for the journal Family Process. Broadly speaking, her research is aimed at understanding how couple and family relationships impact depression, anxiety, and alcohol use. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health. She was a recipient of the UNL Dean's Award for Excellence in Graduate Education for teaching and mentoring.

Full Becca Brock bio




Understanding Transportation Barriers to Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Enhancing Access in Rural Nebraska

Led by Abigail CochranUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln

Study Overview:

Transportation-related barriers pose significant challenges for individuals seeking access to health care services, particularly affecting vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities, frequent health care users, and rural residents. Such barriers are known to affect the over 20 million Americans with a substance use disorder (SUD) diagnosis and have been shown to critically impact individuals seeking SUD treatment. In Nebraska, where rural areas face considerable health care access disparities, addressing transportation barriers to care is crucial. In this project we aim to identify and address transportation obstacles to accessing SUD treatment in Nebraska, focusing on understanding accessibility and characterizing barriers in underserved rural communities.

Specific Aims:

(Aim 1): Geospatial and Temporal Analysis of Accessibility to SUD Treatment Facilities. Our first aim is to conduct comprehensive spatiotemporal analyses to evaluate travel time-based accessibility for individuals with SUD.

(Aim 2): Qualitative Exploration of Transportation Barriers through Semi-Structured Interviews. Our second aim involves gaining insights directly from practitioners involved in SUD treatment. Through semi-structured interviews, we aim to capture a nuanced understanding of transportation barriers faced by individuals seeking treatment in rural Nebraska.

Overall, by combining spatiotemporal analysis with qualitative exploration through practitioner interviews, we expect to provide a comprehensive understanding of transportation barriers to SUD treatment in rural Nebraska. The ultimate goal is to inform targeted interventions and programming that address transportation barriers to care, enhance accessibility, promote health equity, and improve health outcomes for individuals with SUD living in underserved rural settings.

Study Sample Population:

Individuals with a substance use disorder diagnosis living in Nebraska.

Long-Term Goals:

This work will, importantly, advance understanding of the role of transportation access in SUD treatment, particularly in rural settings, relying on both quantitative and qualitative interpretations. Our approach and findings can assist transportation and health professionals in identifying areas of high risk and high need, and tailoring locally sensitive, creative, and innovative interventions for such areas that could be particularly effective. By contributing to understanding transportation’s vital role as a social determinant of health as it relates to substance use and misuse, this research closely aligns with the Rural Drug Addiction Research Center’s mission of addressing the treatment of this critical public health challenge from a holistic perspective. Results will be able to inform health-promoting planning, policymaking, and practice within and beyond Nebraska, with implications for addressing pressing transportation and health equity issues facing vulnerable, underserved populations in rural settings.


Photo of Abigail Cochran title=
Abigail Cochran

Abigail CochranPROJECT Director

Dr. Abigail Cochran holds a Master of City Planning and Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. She is broadly interested in travel behavior, transportation policy, disability, aging, and health. She is an Assistant Professor of Community and Regional Planning at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Full Abigail Cochran bio