Web-Based Treatment of Heavy Drinking Among Women With a History of Sexual Trauma

The goal of this study is to empirically evaluate a web-based intervention to reduce heavy drinking among college women with a history of sexual assault who display elevated levels of psychological distress. College women with a history of sexual assault often report more heavy drinking and psychological distress than women without a history of assault. Moreover, women with assault histories often have difficulty regulating their emotions and tolerating distress which can lead to a pattern of drinking to cope distress. Trauma exposure, negative mood, and poor coping strategies have been associated with poor treatment outcomes and relapse following alcohol treatment. Incorporating distress tolerance and emotion regulation skills with an alcohol intervention may enhance treatment effects among women with a history of sexual assault by decreasing their motivation to drink to cope with depression or anxiety and by building adaptive coping strategies. Therefore, the web-based intervention will include cognitive behavioral skills for reducing alcohol consumption and incorporate emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills from Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Heavy Drinking; Sexual Assault
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Alc-ERDT

Detailed Description

For the small randomized controlled trial, heavy drinking college women with a history of sexual assault will be recruited and randomized to receive the intervention or an assessment only control. Online surveys will be administered at baseline, and post-treatment as well as 1-month and 6-months post-treatment.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 200
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Washington
    • Seattle, Washington, United States, 98105
      • University of Washington

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Enrollment at the University of Washington,
• female,
• 18 or older,
• lifetime history of sexual assault (defined as unwanted attempted or completed oral, vaginal, or anal penetration but excluding unwanted sexual contact only),
• at least 2 instances of heavy episodic drinking (defined as 4 or more drinks in 2 hours) in the past 30 days,
• average consumption equal or greater than 7 drinks per week in the past 30 days.

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Web-Based Intervention; In an effort to reduce heavy drinking, participants will be asked to complete a daily monitoring assessment each morning for 14 days. Based on their responses, they will be provided a coping skill to either directly address their alcohol use or attempt to improve their emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills.	Behavioral: Alc-ERDT; Web-based cognitive behavioral skills-based alcohol intervention that incorporates emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills
No Intervention: Assessment Only Control; Participants will be asked to complete only the daily monitoring assessment each morning for 14 days.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in Daily Drinking Questionnaire	Assesses typical alcohol consumption over the course of a typical week in the past month	Baseline (pre-treatment), Immediately upon completion of the intervention (post-treatment), 1-month and 6-month follow-up

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Washington
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Cynthia Stappenbeck, PhD, University of Washington

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 1, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 1, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): January 1, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 31, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 11, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): April 12, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 14, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 12, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders; Stress Disorders, Traumatic; Sexual Trauma
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY00001028

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No