An Exercise App to Reduce Young Adults' MJ Use

January 29, 2016 updated by: R. Lorraine Collins, Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo

Use of Exercise to Reduce Young Adult Marijuana Use: There is an App for That

Currently, marijuana (MJ) is the most popular illicit drug, but there are few effective interventions to help young adults (age 18 to 25 years) to reduce their MJ intake. In this study, we will develop and initially test a smart phone app designed to promote exercise/physical activity as a positive alternative to MJ use. The app will be tested in an efficacy study in which MJ users are randomly to either receive personalized feedback about MJ use + use the exercise app or personalized feedback only. The results will contribute to knowledge about exercise/physical activity as a strategy for reducing young adults' MJ use and problems.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Currently, marijuana (MJ) is the most popular illicit drug, with prevalence studies indicating increasing use among young adults (Johnston et al., 2011). Even so, there are few effective interventions to help MJ users reduce their intake to avoid negative consequences, including MJ dependence. The investigators propose a Stage 1 efficacy study to develop and initially test an innovative intervention to reduce MJ use among young adults who regularly use MJ (> 3 episodes/week). The intervention includes elements from the Marijuana Check-Up (MCU; Stephens et al., 2007), a MI-based brief intervention that has shown promise for reducing MJ use. It also incorporates findings from our ongoing research, which suggest that exercise/physical activity (PA) has potential as a positive alternative to MJ use. The investigators research also has shown that short (i.e., 10 minute) bouts of moderate or intense exercise reduce craving/urges to use MJ. Exercise interventions have successfully reduced use of licit substances, such as tobacco (e.g., Marcus et al., 2005) and alcohol (e.g., Brown et al., 2009), but have not been adequately tested for MJ use. The two aims of this R34 application are: 1) To develop an intervention that consists of four, 60-minute, in-person sessions composed of MCU content (e.g., personalized feedback, MI) as well as a smart phone application (app) that promotes exercise/physical activity (EA) as an alternative to MJ use. The EA, which will be designed to specifically appeal to young adults, will provide a readily-accessible, flexible, and convenient platform for personalized information and reminders that promote exercise/PA as a positive alternative to MJ use in ongoing daily life. 2) To conduct a pilot/efficacy study of the 4-week MCU+EA intervention vs. a MCU-only control condition. The investigators will use urn randomization to assign emerging/young-adult MJ users (N = 40) to the two conditions. During the 1-week baseline, 4-week intervention phase, and 1-, 3-, and 6-month follow-ups, all participants will use the smart phone app to provide real-time data on MJ-related variables and wear accelerometers to provide PA data. Multilevel modeling will be used to test our hypothesis that the MCU+EA intervention, compared to MCU-only control, will produce greater decreases in quantity and frequency of MJ use (and related MJ problems) at post-intervention and at each follow-up. Multilevel modeling also will be used to explore the real-time data to examine the role of variables such as urge/craving for MJ, social factors, and dosage of PA in the reduction of the quantity and frequency of MJ use. This Stage 1 study is unique and innovative in its development and use of a smart phone app to promote and evaluate exercise/PA as a positive alternative to MJ use in daily life. It includes cutting-edge technology (e.g., accelerometers, smart phone app) for real-time assessments. This research will make significant contributions to the limited knowledge of exercise/PA as a strategy for reducing MJ use and related problems among emerging and young adults.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
36

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New York
      • Buffalo, New York, United States, 14214
        • Center for Health Research

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 25 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Regular Marijuana user interested in cutting down on marijuana use
  • Body Mass Index < 30

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Pregnant or planning to become pregnant
  • No legal problems
  • No substance abuse diagnosis
  • No history of substance abuse treatment
  • Medical contraindications to engaging in exercise
  • Psychological distress or psychiatric treatment

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Lifestyle counseling
MJ users assigned to this condition will participate in 4 individualized intervention sessions that are based on Motivational Interviewing principles. They will receive personalized feedback on their MJ use and will be provided a smart phone app on which they report their MJ use episodes, which also is designed to promote the use of exercise/physical activity as an alternative to MJ use. Level of Physical activity will be measured using accelerometers.
Behavioral: Personalized Feedback and Exercise
Active Comparator: Personalized Feedback only
MJ users assigned to this condition will participate in 4 individualized intervention sessions that are based on Motivational Interviewing principles. They will only receive personalized feedback on their MJ use.
Behavioral: Personalized Feedback and Exercise

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Physical Activity
Time Frame: Change in exercise at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after interventionts
Counts based on data collected by accelerometers.
Change in exercise at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after interventionts
Substance Use
Time Frame: Change in marijuana use at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after intervention
Change in marijuana use at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
State University of New York at Buffalo

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: R Lorraine Collins, Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
October 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
May 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
June 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
May 21, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 24, 2013

First Posted (Estimate)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
May 27, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
February 1, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
January 29, 2016

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
January 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • R34DA035358 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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