Personalized Integrated Alcohol and Sexual Assault Prevention Among College Students (+Change)

May 17, 2023 updated by: Amanda Gilmore, Georgia State University
Heavy episodic drinking and sexual assault are problematic on college campuses. This study includes a randomized controlled trial of Positive Change (+Change), an integrated alcohol and sexual assault prevention program, compared to an attention-matched control condition across two universities in reducing alcohol use, sexual assault victimization, sexual assault perpetration, and increasing sexual assault bystander intervention. This study will also test the efficacy of +Change plus Booster session, an identical version of +Change delivered 6 months after the baseline, compared to +Change alone in long-term reductions in alcohol use, sexual assault victimization, sexual assault perpetration, and increases in sexual assault bystander intervention. This research is the next step of a NIAAA-funded planning grant (R34AA025691).

Study Overview

Detailed Description

Aim 1: Test the efficacy of Positive Change (+Change) among college students in each risk group (cisgender heterosexual men; cisgender heterosexual women; LGBTQ). Students aged 18-25 who engage in heavy episodic drinking will be recruited from 2 large public universities (n = 3,300) and will be randomly assigned to +Change, +Change plus +Booster, or an attention control. Alcohol use, sexual assault (victimization and perpetration), and bystander intervention will be assessed at baseline, 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month follow-ups.

H1a: +Change conditions (+Change and +Change plus Booster) will result in less alcohol use, less sexual assault (victimization and perpetration), and more bystander intervention compared to the control condition at 3-month follow-up and maintained at 6 months.

H1b: +Change plus booster at 6-months will maintain less alcohol use, less sexual assault (victimization and perpetration), and more bystander intervention compared to +Change over 9- and 12-month follow-ups (i.e., less decay of change).

Aim 2: Investigate theoretical mechanisms through which +Change conditions impact alcohol use (e.g., descriptive drinking norms, drinking to cope with minority stress for LGBTQ students), sexual assault victimization and perpetration (e.g., sexual assault-related norms, sexual assault resistance self-efficacy, hypergender ideology), and bystander intervention (e.g., bystander intervention self-efficacy).

Exploratory Aim: Examine +Change efficacy among LGBTQ subgroups (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, non-binary gender, gender queer, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual).

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

3300

Phase

  • 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

    • Georgia
      • Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30303
        • Georgia State 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 25 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 18-25 years old
  • Current student at university of study
  • Valid email address at university of study
  • Endorse engaging in heavy episodic drinking at least once in the past month on the screening survey

Exclusion Criteria:

• There are no exclusion criteria other than not meeting inclusion criteria

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: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Control
A healthy lifestyles attention control will be used as the control condition. We will match the control and intervention conditions on content (text, pictures, number of pages); type (interactive vs. psychoeducation); and average completion time.
A healthy lifestyles attention control will be used as the control condition. We will match the control and intervention conditions on content (text, pictures, number of pages); type (interactive vs. psychoeducation); and average completion time.
Experimental: Positive Change (+Change)
This is an integrated social norms-based personalized feedback intervention for college students targeting alcohol misuse and sexual assault. It targets alcohol, sexual assault victimization risk, sexual assault perpetration, and bystander intervention. It is tailored by gender and sexual orientation.
This is an integrated social norms-based personalized feedback intervention for college students targeting alcohol misuse and sexual assault. It targets alcohol, sexual assault victimization risk, sexual assault perpetration, and bystander intervention. It is tailored by gender and sexual orientation.
Experimental: Positive Change (+Change) Plus Booster
This is an integrated social norms-based personalized feedback intervention for college students targeting alcohol misuse and sexual assault. It targets alcohol, sexual assault victimization risk, sexual assault perpetration, and bystander intervention. It is tailored by gender and sexual orientation. It is provided at baseline and a booster at 6 months.
Positive Change (+Change) Plus Booster

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in Alcohol use
Time Frame: 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-months
Number of drinks will be assessed using the daily drinking questionnaire. Higher scores indicate higher alcohol use.
3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-months
Changes in Sexual Assault Victimization
Time Frame: 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-months
Sexual assault victimization severity will be assessed using a modified version of the Sexual Experiences Survey. Responses are rated on number of times each experience occurred (0, 1, 2, 3+). Higher scores indicate higher sexual assault victimization.
3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-months
Changes in Bystander Intervention
Time Frame: 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-months
Bystander intervention behavior will be assessed using the 44-item Bystander Behavior Scale to assess engaging in bystander behavior with friends. Responses indicate if the participant engaged in each bystander behavior with a friend or not, or if they had no opportunity to engage in the behavior. Higher scores indicate higher bystander intervention behaviors.
3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-months
Changes in Sexual Assault Perpetration
Time Frame: 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-months
Sexual assault perpetration severity will be assessed using a modified version of the Sexual Strategies Survey. Participants check all items that apply. Higher scores indicate higher sexual assault perpetration.
3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Collaborators

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Amanda Gilmore, PhD, Georgia State University

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 (Actual)

October 3, 2022

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

May 31, 2026

Study Completion (Anticipated)

May 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 5, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 15, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

March 16, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 19, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 17, 2023

Last Verified

May 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • GeorgiaSU

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

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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