Adapting a Secondary Prevention Program for Nonstudent Emerging Adult Drinkers

Emerging adulthood is a period of heightened vulnerability for problematic alcohol use. Considerable research has been devoted to reducing alcohol risks in college student populations, though far less effort has focused on their noncollege-attending peers. Research targeting nonstudent emerging adults is critical as this group is at risk for experiencing alcohol-related harms. Consequently, the main objective of the present study was to examine the preliminary efficacy of a brief personalized feedback intervention (PFI) tailored for nonstudent at-risk drinkers.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Alcohol Drinking
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Personalized Feedback Intervention

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 164
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 25 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Study eligibility included being 18 to 25 years old, having no prior or current college attendance (e.g., technical/vocational programs, associate's degree programs, or four year college programs), and not being currently enrolled in high school. High school completion was not a required eligibility criteria. They also had to report engaging in a minimum of two heavy drinking episodes (i.e., 4/5+ standard drinks for women/men on one occasion) in the past month

Exclusion Criteria:

• Exclusion criteria included consumption above 40 drinks weekly and/or a history of substance use treatment

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Feedback intervention condition	Behavioral: Personalized Feedback Intervention; The current intervention included personalized feedback regarding their alcohol consumption, alcohol-related consequences, gender-specific normative drinking comparisons, personal risk factors (e.g., dependence symptoms, family history of alcoholism), and alcohol expectancies. The intervention also included didactic material related to alcohol (e.g., effects at different BAC levels, tolerance) and drinking moderation strategies. The feedback was presented graphically in a feedback report with the individual's information.
No Intervention: Assessment-only control condition

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Alcohol use quantity	Alcohol consumption was assessed using the Daily Drinking Questionnaire (DDQ; Collins et al., 1985). Participants reported the number of standard drinks (e.g., 12-ounce beer, 5-ounce wine, or 1.5 ounce liquor) consumed and duration each day during a typical week in the past 3 months. Indices of weekly drinking derived from the DDQ were: total quantity, frequency of drinking days, number of heavy drinking days (days where 4/5+ drinks for women/men were consumed), proportion of heavy drinking days out of total drinking days, maximum number of drinks on the heaviest drinking day, and typical blood alcohol concentration (BAC; see Matthews & Miller, 1979).	9 months
Alcohol-related harms	Alcohol-related problems were measured by the Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (B-YAACQ; Kahler et al., 2005). The B-YAACQ is a 24-item, yes-no format questionnaire assessing negative drinking-related consequences experienced during the past month. Items were summed to create an overall score (ranging from 0 to 24), with higher scores indicating greater severity.	9 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Old Dominion University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 10, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 2, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): December 2, 2015

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 18, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 18, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): December 22, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 4, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 2, 2018
• Last Verified: January 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Drinking Behavior; Alcohol Drinking
• Other Study ID Numbers: 14-065; 15-091

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No