Evaluation of an Expectancy Challenge Intervention for Food and Alcohol Disturbance Among College Students (FAD)

University of Wyoming

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: College Drinking; Disordered Eating

Treatments: Behavioral: Food and alcohol disturbance expectancy challenge

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06810414

IRB-2024-467

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study aims to create and test an intervention that helps college students re-evaluate their beliefs about food and alcohol disturbance (FAD) and, in turn, reduce how often they engage in it or intend to in the future. The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. Does the intervention help students have less positive beliefs about the effects of FAD and more negative beliefs about its effects?
2. If college students' beliefs about FAD change, does that lead them to engage in it less often or plan to do it less?
3. Will college students who engage in FAD sign up for the study, complete it, and feel that the intervention is helpful and valuable?

Participants will take part in one 2-hour in-person laboratory-based study session where they will fill out surveys, learn about FAD, and engage in exercises designed to challenge their existing beliefs about it. They will also complete a follow-up survey online one month after their in-person study visit.

Full description

Food and alcohol disturbance (FAD) is the use of any compensatory behavior (e.g., caloric restriction) within the context of a drinking episode for the purpose of 1) compensating for alcohol-related calories and/or 2) enhancing the effects of alcohol. FAD occurs at alarmingly high rates among undergraduates and is associated with a myriad of deleterious consequences. Expectancy effects (i.e., beliefs regarding the anticipated outcomes of a behavior) have been shown to influence the initiation and maintenance of alcohol and disordered eating behaviors. Prior work suggests that expectancies for these behaviors can be modified via expectancy challenges (i.e., ECs; interventions that aim to undermine expectancies by providing learning opportunities that demonstrate the discrepancy between the actual versus perceived effects of a behavior). An EC has never been applied to FAD. However, given that FAD is comprised of both alcohol and disordered eating behaviors, and preliminary work suggests that FAD expectancies share some similarities with alcohol and restriction expectancies, it is likely that an EC could be similarly applied to FAD. Thus, the purpose of the proposed project is to develop an effective and acceptable EC designed to modify FAD expectancies and reduce FAD among undergraduates, informed by the alcohol EC literature.

Participants will be randomized to a 120-minute in-person non-experiential (i.e., no alcohol administration) EC designed to undermine FAD expectancies (experimental group) or a control group. To make existing expectancies salient, the EC will include audio recordings of reported FAD expectancies from students who engaged in FAD in my preliminary qualitative work (Berry & Looby, 2024). Participants will then engage in discussions to evaluate whether these effects are pharmacological or perceived. The intervention will also provide psychoeducation on expectancies, FAD, alcohol, and the effects of compensatory behaviors on weight, which will prompt participants to reevaluate their extant expectancies. This will be followed by a reflective writing exercise to allow participants to further elaborate on any changes to their challenged expectancies. FAD expectancies will be assessed at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and one-month follow-up. FAD frequency will be assessed at baseline and follow-up. Additionally, participants in the experimental group will provide feedback on the intervention's acceptability and feasibility post-intervention.

Enrollment: 75 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 25 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. Must be between the ages of 18 and 25
2. Must report engaging in FAD at least two times over the past month

Exclusion criteria

1. They have a current or past history of receiving psychological treatment for their alcohol use and/or eating behaviors
2. They are currently trying to reduce their drinking

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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75 participants in 2 patient groups

FAD Expectancy Challenge Condition

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in the experimental condition will be delivered the FAD expectancy challenge intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Food and alcohol disturbance expectancy challenge

Disordered Eating Psychoeducation

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants in the control condition will receive psychoeducation on disordered eating behaviors, with only a brief mention of FAD, and excluding any discussion of expectancies and consequences.