Brief Mobile Intervention for Prepartying

Mobile Application Intervention Targeting the High Risk Drinking Practice of Prepartying

The primary objective of the research study is to develop and test a prepartying (aka "pregaming") specific brief mobile app intervention that is intended to help college students reduce their prepartying drinking behavior. Such behavior has been identified as a major contributor to alcohol-related negative consequences among young people. The investigators will first develop the intervention content based on theory and research supporting mechanisms of change in brief interventions with college students and document normative drinking information from 500 college students for inclusion in the intervention content. Investigators will then beta test the intervention with a sample of 14 heavy drinking college students. Focus group feasibility and acceptability feedback will inform the final intervention content. Investigators will then pilot test the mobile-based intervention in a randomized controlled trial of 500 college students who preparty frequently (n = 250 intervention, n = 250 attention control) and determine the efficacy of the intervention on (1) preventing heavy consumption levels during and after prepartying and on (2) reducing students' global levels of heavy drinking and consequences one and three months post-intervention.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Heavy Drinking
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Mobile app prepartying intervention

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 500
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Eric R Pedersen; Phone Number: 6078 310-393-0411; Email: ericp@rand.org

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90089
      • Recruiting
      • University of Southern California
      • Contact: Eric Pedersen, PhD; Phone Number: 310-694-7255; Email: eric.pedersen@med.usc.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 24 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• full time undergraduate college student
• between the ages of 18 and 24
• report typically prepartying at least once per week

Exclusion Criteria:

• not meeting inclusion criteria

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Prepartying mobile app intervention; Mobile app intervention	Behavioral: Mobile app prepartying intervention; The intervention is comprised of a theoretically-informed and empirically-supported, brief, accessible, and personalized intervention to address prepartying drinking. the prepartying intervention app will be tailored toward an individual's personal goals, beliefs (perceptions, expectancies, self-efficacy), and behavior (protective strategies), and focus on the core components of brief interventions that have been cited as constructs that mediate the effects of multiple component intervention programs (e.g., correcting perceived norms, use of protective behavioral strategies, increased self-efficacy, challenging expectancies, feedback on blood alcohol level).
No Intervention: Control; Control participants receive a personalized attention control task (i.e., listing and ranking favorite movies, music, and books), which controls for the time needed by the intervention group to view the intervention material.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Prepartying frequency	Number of days reported prepartying on the timeline followback	Past month (30 days)
Drinks during prepartying	Average number of drinks reported during prepartying on the timeline followback	Past month (30 days)
Drinking frequency	Number of days reported any drinking on the timeline followback	Past month (30 days)
Drinks on drinking days	Average number of drinks reported during drinking days on the timeline followback	Past month (30 days)
21-item Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire	Number of 21 assessed alcohol consequences experienced (yes/no). Yes responses are summed to yield a score on this measure. Higher scores indicate experience of a greater number of consequences. Scores range from 0 (no consequences) to 21 (experience of all 21 consequences)	Past month (30 days)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: RAND
• Collaborators: University of Southern California

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Pedersen ER, Hummer JF, Davis JP, Fitzke RE, Christie NC, Witkiewitz K, Clapp JD. A mobile-based pregaming drinking prevention intervention for college students: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Addict Sci Clin Pract. 2022 Jun 18;17(1):31. doi: 10.1186/s13722-022-00314-5.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 9, 2021
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): May 31, 2022
• Study Completion (Anticipated): August 31, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 10, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 10, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): July 11, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 17, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 15, 2021
• Last Verified: August 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: R34AA025968 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

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