A Media Based Motivational Intervention to Prevent Alcohol Exposed Pregnancies (AEPs)

September 29, 2016 updated by: Linda Sobell, Nova Southeastern University

A Media Based Motivational Intervention to Reduce Alcohol Exposed Pregnancies (AEPs)

The study evaluated the effectiveness of a mail-based self-guided motivational intervention based on Project CHOICES to reduce alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEP) with female students and non-students 18 to 44 years of age living in Florida. The investigators hypothesize that the motivational intervention will significantly reduce more women's risk of an AEP than will an informational intervention aimed at preventing fetal alcohol syndrome. Materials will be available in Spanish and English

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The proposed project will evaluate the effectiveness of a mail-based self-guided motivational intervention based on Project CHOICES to reduce alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEP) among students and non-students. Participants will be women 18 to 44 years of age who are at risk of an AEP. The community targeted will be the state of Florida. Materials were available in Spanish and English The intervention will be based on the investigators' previous experience in (a) promoting self-change of drinking behavior at a community level and (b) preventing reduced risk for AEP through the use of a motivational interventional materials used in Project CHOICES. Using a 2 group randomized design, the self-guided motivational intervention will be compared to an intervention directed at preventing fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). The FAS prevention condition, a brochure developed by the CDC, served as the standard treatment control group in that most information available at the community level concerning the effects of alcohol on the developing fetus relate to FAS (e.g., warning labels on alcoholic beverage containers). It is suggested that many women, particularly college students, at risk for AEP do not view themselves as at risk for FAS and therefore do not view FAS-oriented prevention messages as personally relevant. The proposed experimental design will evaluate a mail-based strategy that could be easily implemented throughout communities. The proposed study design will have more methodological rigor and allow a more careful evaluation than would be possible if the intervention was initially targeted at the entire community. The follow-up will be the entire 6-months post-intervention.If successful, this low-cost intervention can be readily disseminated throughout the local area. Specific objectives are as follows:

  1. Develop an evidence-based intervention to reduce alcohol-exposed pregnancies that can be easily disseminated at a community level through the mail and other media outlets.
  2. Implement the AEP prevention intervention using a randomized controlled trial with women recruited from a community at higher than normal risk for AEPs.
  3. Evaluate the efficacy of the AEP prevention intervention for reducing AEP risk as compared to a community level intervention aimed at preventing FAS using the 3 primary outcome measures in previous Project CHOICES studies: (a) AEP reduced risk through reduced drinking or effective contraception, or both; (b) AEP reduced risk through drinking only; and (c) reduced risk through effective contraception only.
  4. Disseminate results of the study to health care providers in the local community.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

354

Phase

  • Phase 2

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
    • Florida
      • Fort. Lauderdale, Florida, United States, 33314
        • Nova Southeastern University

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

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 44 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Women aged 18 to 44 years who are not pregnant, not trying to become pregnant, and able to bear children.

  • At risk for an alcohol exposed pregnancy 90 days prior to the interview defined as:

    1. had heterosexual vaginal intercourse with ineffective contraception
    2. not effectively using contraception
    3. drinking either ≥ 8 drinks per week on average or ≥ 5 drinks in a single day or both
    4. returned their informed consent and assessment materials within 60 days after it was mailed to them

Exclusion Criteria:

  • No alcohol consumption or vaginal intercourse in the 90 days prior to the interview
  • Pregnant
  • Trying to become pregnant
  • Not able to bear children
  • Using contraception effectively

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
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Self-motivational Choices
Students and nonstudents were mailed a brochure prepared as part of the PHC study intervention, Making Healthy Choices for a Healthy Baby in English or Mujeres y Salud Eligiendo Opciones Saludables in Spanish. This brochure allows women to make informed decisions about preventing an AEP. The MF materials included nonstigmatizing messages about drinking and contraception embedded among other health messages. Similar to Project CHOICES, this group also received a brochure on birth control practices.
Behavioral: Self-guided Motivational Intervention
Using a randomized two-group design, a self-guided motivational intervention based on Project CHOICES will be compared to an informational only intervention, both directed at preventing alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEPs) with students and nonstudents. Participants will be women 18 to 44 years of age who are at risk of an AEP. All materials are sent to participants through the USPS.
Active Comparator: Information Only
Students and nonstudents were mailed a brochure prepared by the CDC. The brochure (English: Think Before You Drink: You Can Hurt Your Unborn Baby; Spanish: Piénselo Antes de Beber: Puede Lastimar a Su Futuro Bebe), available at the CDC website, targets women of childbearing-age, discusses FAS and the negative effects of a mother's drinking on her unborn child, and recommends calling Alcoholics Anonymous or an alcohol treatment program for help to stop drinking. The CDC brochure did not contain information about how to contracept effectively.
Behavioral: Informational Only
Using a randomized two-group design, an informational intervention using a brochure from the CDC will be compared to a self-guided motivational intervention based on Project CHOICES, both directed at preventing alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEPs) with students and nonstudents. Participants will be women 18 to 44 years of age who are at risk of an AEP. All materials are sent to participants through the USPS

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
AEP reduced risk through reduced drinking and effective contraception, or both
Time Frame: 6 months post intervention
Not at risk if a women reported no risky drinking (see definition in outcome 2) or contracepting effectively, or both
6 months post intervention
AEP reduced risk through reduced drinking only
Time Frame: 6 months post intervention
Reduced risk drinking defined as ≤ 7 standard drinks (SDs) per week and ≤ 4 SDs on any day during the 6-month follow-up interval; 1 SD = 14 g absolute alcohol.
6 months post intervention
AEP reduced risk through effective contraception only
Time Frame: 6 months post intervention
The effectiveness of birth control methods was evaluated using algorithms (e.g., If you missed a pill during this time period, did you take both pills the next day and did you use a back up method other than rhythm or withdrawal until you started your next packet of pills?) from Project CHOICES
6 months post intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Nova Southeastern University

Collaborators

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Linda C Sobell, Ph.D., Nova Southeastern University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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

November 1, 2005

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2008

Study Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2009

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 14, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 14, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

September 22, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

September 30, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 29, 2016

Last Verified

September 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • U50/CCU300860 (Other Grant/Funding Number: CDC)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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