Centering culture in the treatment of opioid use disorder with American Indian and Alaska Native Communities: Contributions from a National Collaborative Board

American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities are disproportionally impacted by the opioid overdose epidemic. There remains a dearth of research evaluating methods for effectively implementing treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD) within these communities. We describe proceedings from a 2-day Collaborative Board (CB) meeting tasked with developing an implementation intervention for AI/AN clinical programs to improve the delivery of medications to treat OUD (MOUD). The CB was comprised of Elders, cultural leaders, providers, individuals with lived experience with OUD, and researchers from over 25 communities, organizations, and academic institutions. Conversations were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded by two academic researchers with interpretation oversight provided by the CB. These proceedings provided a foundation for ongoing CB work and a frame for developing the program-level implementation intervention using a strength-based and holistic model of OUD recovery and wellbeing. Topics of discussion posed to the CB included engagement and recovery strategies, integration of extended family traditions, and addressing stigma and building trust with providers and clients. Integration of traditional healing practices, ceremonies, and other cultural practices was recommended. The importance of centering AI/AN culture and involving family were highlighted as priorities for the intervention.     

Cross-task validation of functional measurement

Ss judged average heaviness of two unseen lifted weights on a 20-step rating scale. They also rated heaviness of a single visible object of variable size and weight. The data for each task obeyed the parallelism prediction of the linear integration model. This within-task consistency validates jointly the model and the response scale. Functional measurement procedure yielded independent scales of subjective heaviness from each task. These were linearly related, a criterion of external consistency. The plot of subjective heaviness against objective weight was slightly negatively accelerated. These results disagree with those that have been obtained with magnitude estimation. Since the rating data satisfy both internal and external consistency, they constitute the true measure of sensation. Magnitude estimation, in contrast, must be biased and invalid.     

Rehearsal grouping and hierarchical organization of serial position cues in short-term memory

Lists of 8, 9, or 10 digits were presented at the rate of 1 digit/sec. to subjects instructed to rehearse silently the digits in non-overlapping groups of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 digits, after hearing each digit. Subjects were instructed not to rehearse any digits outside the group currently being presented. Rehearsing in 3's was optimal, irrespective of list length. Both recall of items and recall of the correct positions of items improved from 1's to 2's to 3's. Recall of items declined very little from 3's to 4's to 5's, but recall of position declined sharply. Errors in positioning digits tended, above chance, to be in the same group or the same position in a different group. The results suggest that both item-to-item associations and serial positin-to-item associations are formed in short-term memory, that only two or three serial position cues are used, but that these serial position cues can be hierarchically organized into a beginning, middle, and end group and a beginning, middle, and end position within a group.     

Geometrical representation of two methods of linear least squares multiple correlation

Geometrical properties and relationships of the Doolittle and square root methods of multiple correlation, as represented in the variable subspace of an orthogonal person space, are shown. The method of representation is also useful for depicting zero-order and partial correlations, as well as for the more general problem of the combination of variables.