Pilot Study of a Text Message Platform to Reduce Risky Drinking in Young Adults (PART)

University of Pittsburgh

Status: Completed

Conditions: Alcohol Consumption; Alcohol Abuse; Drinking Behavior

Treatments: Behavioral: Self-Awareness; Behavioral: Motivational and Normative Feedback

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01197352

PRO10040186

Details and patient eligibility

About

Young adults are in a critical period where they can be influenced to avoid a trajectory of high-risk drinking and harmful outcomes in the later adult years. The Emergency Department might offer a unique opportunity to reach young adults, if an easy to implement screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment was available. The investigators are investigating the feasibility and accuracy of ED-initiated and outpatient-continued assessment of drinking behavior in young adults using a computer-driven text messaging platform. Based on the subject's response to weekly assessments, the computer platform will send personalized motivational messages in real-time.

Full description

Greater than 45% of young adults have heavy episodic drinking (HED; 5/4 drinks per occasion form men/women), resulting in significant health risks, including injury and death. Early identification and secondary prevention of HED using screening, brief interventions and referral to treatment (SBIRT) is advocated by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) as a way to reduce injury and health consequences. Each day in the United States, there are over 2700 emergency department (ED) visits associated with alcohol, unfortunately, SBIRT is rarely performed in the ED due to time and training requirements. Our application seeks to solve this problem by integrating SBIRT into ED care through the use of ecological assessments with interventions. We will incorporate components of the NIAAA 2005 Clinicians Guide into automated weekly assessments (EA) and branching algorithms for personalized interventions (EA&I) delivered in real-time through mobile phone text messaging to young adults with a history of at-risk drinking behavior. We will assess the feasibility of EA&I to study young adults with a history of at-risk drinking and assess the variability in outcomes in patients undergoing EA&I, EA or standard care. We expect to find that this ED-initiated and outpatientcontinued platform will improve collection of drinking behavior, delivery of real-world motivational feedback and follow-up in young adults with at-risk drinking histories. We anticipate that short-term HED will be reduced in those subjects randomized to EA&I. We will use this information to support further studies with adequate power to show ED-initiated EA&I reduce long-term HED and its adverse consequences in young adults.

Enrollment: 45 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 24 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 18-24 years
• English speaking
• Owns a personal phone with text messaging

Exclusion criteria

• Pregnant
• Prisoner
• Treated for alcohol dependence or abuse
• Treated for psychiatric disorder

Trial design

Primary purpose: Screening

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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45 participants in 3 patient groups

Text message queries with feedback

Experimental group

Description:

Weekly prompted queries about drinking behavior with personalized feedback.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Motivational and Normative Feedback

Text message queries

Active Comparator group

Description:

Weekly prompted queries about drinking behavior

Treatment:

Behavioral: Self-Awareness

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Weekly text reminders to complete final (12 week) instruments