Timing Personalized Feedback After Alcohol Health Education (TIME)

Abby Braitman

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 2; Phase 1

Conditions: College Student Drinking

Treatments: Behavioral: Feedback booster; Behavioral: e-checkup to go

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT04453007

K01AA023849 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

20-044

Details and patient eligibility

About

Heavy episodic alcohol use within the college student population is widespread, creating problems for student drinkers, their peers, and their institutions. Negative consequences from heavy alcohol use can be mild (e.g., hangovers, missed classes), to severe (e.g., assault, even death). Although online interventions targeting college student drinking reduce alcohol consumption and associated problems, they are not as effective as in-person interventions. Online interventions are cost-effective, offer privacy, reduce stigma, and may reach individuals who would otherwise not receive treatment.

In a recently completed randomized, controlled trial, an emailed booster with personalized feedback improved the efficacy of a popular online intervention (Braitman & Henson, 2016). A second randomized, controlled trial confirmed efficacy for students of legal drinking age for a longer timeline (Braitman & Lau-Barraco, 2018). Although promising, the booster incorporated in the study needs further empirical refinement.

The current project seeks to build on past progress by further developing and refining the booster. In particular, to identify the most efficacious timing for sending the feedback. The content will be similar across conditions, but will be disseminated at different times to identify the most impactful timeline. There will be 6 study conditions: those who receive the emailed feedback 2, 6, 10, or 14 weeks after baseline, or at all of those times, or not at all (control). Thus, the aim of the current study is to identify optimal timing for sending the tailored booster feedback via booster email.

Enrollment: 195 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 24 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Current college students at the sponsor institution at the time of enrollment
• Between the ages of 18 and 24
• Consumed at least standard drink of alcohol in the past 2 weeks

Exclusion criteria

• Under age of 18
• Over age of 24
• Not a college student
• Did not drink alcohol in the past 2 weeks

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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195 participants in 6 patient groups, including a placebo group

Intervention-only Control

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Participants navigate through e-checkup to go, the well-established alcohol intervention. Any follow-up emails sent to them later contain only a reminder to participate in follow-up surveys.

Treatment:

Behavioral: e-checkup to go

Intervention plus 2-week feedback booster

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants navigate through e-checkup to go, the well-established alcohol intervention, then receive the feedback booster email 2 weeks later. It contains a reminder to participate in follow-up surveys, plus personalized feedback based on participant-reported perceived alcohol norms, actual alcohol norms, their own use, and harm reduction strategies.

Treatment:

Behavioral: e-checkup to go

Behavioral: Feedback booster

Intervention plus 6-week feedback booster

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants navigate through e-checkup to go, the well-established alcohol intervention, then receive the feedback booster email 6 weeks later. It contains a reminder to participate in follow-up surveys, plus personalized feedback based on participant-reported perceived alcohol norms, actual alcohol norms, their own use, and harm reduction strategies.

Treatment:

Behavioral: e-checkup to go

Behavioral: Feedback booster

Intervention plus 10-week feedback booster

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants navigate through e-checkup to go, the well-established alcohol intervention, then receive the feedback booster email 10 weeks later. It contains a reminder to participate in follow-up surveys, plus personalized feedback based on participant-reported perceived alcohol norms, actual alcohol norms, their own use, and harm reduction strategies.

Treatment:

Behavioral: e-checkup to go

Behavioral: Feedback booster

Intervention plus 14-week feedback booster

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants navigate through e-checkup to go, the well-established alcohol intervention, then receive the feedback booster email 14 weeks later. It contains a reminder to participate in follow-up surveys, plus personalized feedback based on participant-reported perceived alcohol norms, actual alcohol norms, their own use, and harm reduction strategies.

Treatment:

Behavioral: e-checkup to go

Behavioral: Feedback booster

Intervention plus repeated feedback boosters

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants navigate through e-checkup to go, the well-established alcohol intervention, then receive the multiple feedback booster emails, 2, 6, 10, and 14 weeks later. Each time, the email contains a reminder to participate in follow-up surveys, plus personalized feedback based on participant-reported perceived alcohol norms, actual alcohol norms, their own use, and harm reduction strategies.

Treatment:

Behavioral: e-checkup to go

Behavioral: Feedback booster