Evaluating Telehealth Delivery of Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (Tele-BASICS)

University of Southern California

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Alcohol Consumption

Treatments: Behavioral: BASICS; Behavioral: Online alcohol programming

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT06774300

R01AA031252 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

This research study will test the efficacy of a telehealth version of the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS), which is the gold standard prevention and intervention approach to target heavy alcohol use on college campuses across the United States.

Full description

In this study, the researchers will evaluate the efficacy of a tele-BASICS approach utilizing the ZOOM application compared to in-person BASICS and a lower threshold treatment as usual intervention. Three hundred mandated and 300 volunteer students who report hazardous drinking will be recruited from two large universities and randomly assigned to a condition (in-person BASICS, Tele-BASICS, or treatment as usual). Follow-up assessments will occur 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-months post-baseline. The significance of this research lies in the potential to maximize access to the highest standard of care by establishing support for easier access without sacrificing any central features of the traditional BASICS intervention. In addition, many universities pragmatically adapted existing in-person interventions to remote-telehealth approaches in response to the COVID pandemic but now have no scientific basis for determining whether transitioning back to in-person approaches would be beneficial.

Enrollment: 600 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 26 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• between 18 and 26 years of age
• fluent in understanding English
• a registered student at one of the two intervention sites
• adequate internet capabilities to support video-conferencing
• access to a webcam, which is a standard features of most laptops, mobile devices, and desktops
• engage in binge drinking (i.e., 4 or more standard drinks in a sitting for women or 5 or more standard drinks in a sitting for men) at least once in the past month (for the volunteer sample only)
• experienced at least one negative alcohol-related consequence in the previous month (mandated students would meet this due to receiving an alcohol sanction)
• reports a score of 2 or higher on questions about a) interest in reducing their drinking, or b) interest in not increasing their drinking.

Exclusion criteria

• not meeting inclusion criteria or unwillingness to participate

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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600 participants in 3 patient groups

In-person BASICS

Experimental group

Description:

This intervention conditions consist of a feedback interview with a trained facilitator. The feedback interview is a one-hour intervention based on the information provided during the baseline assessment. The content and process of the interview will be similar to methods developed and tested by Marlatt and colleagues and described in detail in the BASICS manual. Trained facilitators will meet individually with the students in-person and provide concrete personalized feedback regarding the following BASICS content: drinking patterns, drinking norms, risks, beliefs about alcohol and its effects, and protective behavioral strategies

Treatment:

Behavioral: BASICS

Tele-BASICS

Experimental group

Description:

This intervention conditions consist of a feedback interview with a trained facilitator just like in the in-person BASICS condition. However, the feedback interview will be conducted over Zoom. Trained facilitators will meet individually with the students using video conferencing software and provide concrete personalized feedback regarding the following BASICS content: drinking patterns, drinking norms, risks, beliefs about alcohol and its effects, and protective behavioral strategies

Treatment:

Behavioral: BASICS

Treatment as usual

Active Comparator group

Description:

The control group for this study will receive the universities' online program that is typically given to students as a first line sanction. The program is informed by BASICS, but includes no facilitator, either in-person or online. It is primarily text-based with some graphics. It contains alcohol information (physiological reactions at specific blood alcohol levels, safe drinking tips, signs of alcohol poisoning), descriptions of alcohol laws and policies (on campus, minor in possession laws), campus and national resources (e.g., contact information for crisis hotlines and student counseling center), and personalized feedback (e.g., number of calories consumed via alcoholic drinks, money spent on alcohol).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Online alcohol programming