Enhancing treatment outcomes among veterans with alcohol use disorder: Clinical and neural markers of adjunctive approach-avoidance training

NIH RePORTER · VA · I01 · · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

Veterans with alcohol use disorders (AUD) would be greatly served by development of effective interventions to address high relapse rates and difficulty with resuming optimal functional recovery (i.e., re-engaging in vocational, social, and daily life roles that are critical to maintaining alcohol consumption goals). Approach bias toward alcohol, an implicit motivational response to alcohol cues observable across behavioral and neural indicators, is a core feature of AUD that impedes recovery but is not routinely treated in standard care. Treatment options that target approach bias may improve outcomes by decreasing the appetitive pull of alcohol, so that individuals are better able to disengage from habitual drinking behaviors in the service of their functional goals and objectives. Approach Avoidance Training (AAT) is a computer-delivered treatment program that shifts behavioral and neural indicators of approach bias for alcohol and has been shown to improve drinking-related outcomes in AUD when used in conjunction with standard care. Given the promise of this intervention for AUD, there is a critical need to determine if this treatment can be successfully used for Veterans who commonly present with complex comorbidities, and to pinpoint cognitive and neurobiological processes of change. The overall objectives of this proposal are to determine whether Alcohol Approach Avoidance Training (AAT) improves recovery outcomes in Veterans undergoing standard care for AUD with co-occurring conditions, and to identify the underlying cognitive and neural substrates modified. The central hypothesis is that AAT training will improve critical recovery outcomes for Veterans and improve behavioral and neural indicators of approach bias. We will explore whether effects of AAT generalize to related top-down and bottom-up neurocognitive processes. We will also explore potential predictors of treatment response. The overall objectives will be addressed in a randomized controlled trial of 136 Veterans completing standard care in our local VA setting with either AAT or a control condition. Aim 1 will determine if repeatedly practicing avoidance of alcohol cues through AAT can improve recovery outcomes and hazardous drinking. Aim 2 will determine if AAT modifies approach bias by measuring this construct with multiple assessment methods (i.e., behavioral, fMRI). Exploratory aims will examine if AAT modifies inhibition (top-down) and cue reactivity (bottom up) processing, and the extent to which baseline comorbidity severity, treatment engagement characteristics, or baseline approach bias (behavioral task reaction times, brain response during fMRI) are associated with clinical outcomes. The project is expected to determine if AAT shows clinical potential that would warrant expansion to other substances of abuse and a larger multisite confirmatory efficacy trial in Veterans with AUD. Results of the study will inform the utility of AAT as an adjunctive AUD treatment for ...

Key facts

NIH application ID
10705745
Project number
5I01RX003793-02
Recipient
VA SAN DIEGO HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
Principal Investigator
Jessica Bomyea
Activity code
I01
Funding institute
VA
Fiscal year
2023
Award amount
Award type
5
Project period
2022-10-01 → 2026-09-30