Technology Interventions for Youth Alcohol Use

October 13, 2025 updated by: Maureen A Walton, University of Michigan

Comparing Scalable Technology-Driven Brief Intervention Packages for Youth Alcohol Use

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of two programs to prevent/reduce alcohol misuse among youth primary care patients. Depending on their study condition, youth will receive a brief web-based computer program or the web program + 8 weeks of supportive text messages. Parents/caregivers of youth are encouraged to use a freely available app to guide conversations with their child about drinking. This study will have significant impact by evaluating response to these scalable interventions which can be deployed widely in clinical care settings.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

1400

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 Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Michigan
      • Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, 48109
        • Recruiting
        • University of Michigan
        • Contact:
          • Meredith Kotov
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Maureen Walton, PhD
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Erin Bonar, PhD

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

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • patients age 12-19 within the Michigan Medicine health system who had a visit within the past 2 years; and
  • past 12-month alcohol use; and
  • patient has a phone that can receive text messages

Exclusion Criteria:

  • patients who do not understand English; or
  • patients deemed unable to provide informed consent due to conditions that preclude understanding of assessment or intervention content; or
  • parent/guardian consent is not obtained; or
  • another child in household already enrolled in the study; or
  • ongoing participation in another behavioral health research study

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
Active Comparator: Web Program + App
Brief intervention web program (rooted in Motivational Interviewing) recommended at enrollment with parent/caregiver recommended to download and use app (with strategies to talk to youth about drinking prevention).
Behavioral: Web Program + App
Youth receive a brief interactive web program made available online to prevent alcohol misuse. The parent/caregiver app addresses monitoring and skill building for parents to communicate with the child about preventing underage drinking and drug use.
Active Comparator: Web Program + App + Text Messages
Brief intervention web program (rooted in Motivational Interviewing) recommended at enrollment with parent/caregiver recommended to download and use app (with strategies to talk to youth about drinking prevention) plus youth receive 8 weeks of text messages.
Behavioral: Web Program + App + Text Messages
Youth receive a brief interactive web program made available online to prevent alcohol misuse. This is followed by 8 weeks of supportive text messages. The parent/caregiver app addresses monitoring and skill building for parents to communicate with the child about preventing underage drinking and drug use.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Alcohol Consumption
Time Frame: 3-, 6-, 9- and 12- months post baseline
Alcohol consumption will be measured using total score on the 3-item Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) which includes typical quantity and frequency, and frequency of binge drinking (# of drinks modified by age based on the NIAAA Youth Guide). Higher score indicates worse outcomes.
3-, 6-, 9- and 12- months post baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Alcohol Related Consequences
Time Frame: 3-, 6-, 9- and 12- months post baseline
Alcohol related consequences will be measured using total score on the brief 18-item version of the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI). Higher score indicates worse outcomes.
3-, 6-, 9- and 12- months post baseline
Change in Other Drug Use
Time Frame: 3-, 6-, 9- and 12- months post baseline
Other drug use will be measured using scores derived from National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) survey items for illicit (e.g., cannabis, cocaine, heroin) and prescription (i.e., in any way a doctor did not direct you to use; stimulants, sedatives, and opioids) drugs misuse. Higher scores indicate worse outcomes.
3-, 6-, 9- and 12- months post baseline
Change in Other Drug Use Consequences
Time Frame: 3-, 6-, 9- and 12- months post baseline
Other drug use consequences will be measured using total score on an 18-item version of the drug-focused RAPI. Higher score indicates worse outcomes.
3-, 6-, 9- and 12- months post baseline
Change in Depression Symptoms
Time Frame: 3-, 6-, 9- and 12-month post baseline
Depressive symptoms will be measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2). Higher scores indicate worse outcomes, with a score of ≥ 3 indicating a positive depression screen.
3-, 6-, 9- and 12-month post baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Michigan

Collaborators

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Erin Bonar, PhD, University of Michigan
  • Principal Investigator: Maureen Walton, MPH, PhD, University of Michigan

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 25, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 4, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 4, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

August 14, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

October 15, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 13, 2025

Last Verified

October 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • HUM00232130
  • AU-2022C1-25631 (Other Identifier: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI))

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

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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