Bystander Intervention for Hazardous Drinking (DISH)

The objective of this treatment development grant is to create an innovative and efficacious alcohol intervention for emerging adults using features from three theoretically sound and empirically supported approaches. A set of students will be engaged to serve as peer leaders to assist in reducing hazardous drinking behavior among their peers. This new intervention, a Bystander Brief Motivational Intervention (BBMI) spans Stages 1A and 1B of the stage model of behavioral therapies research and will utilize qualitative methods, an open trial, and a small controlled pilot trial within the targeted college community.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Hazardous Behavior; Alcohol Consequences
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Bystander Brief Motivational Intervention

Detailed Description

The objective of this treatment development grant is to create an innovative and efficacious alcohol intervention for emerging adults using features from three theoretically sound and empirically supported approaches. Established elements from Bystander Intervention (awareness of the problem, addressing pluralistic ignorance, skill building), Brief Motivational Intervention (client-centered foundation, corrective information about community norms, protective behavioral strategies) and Social Network Analysis (measuring network ties, identifying the influence of network members), will be integrated into a brief intervention that pays particular attention to the connectedness of residents in dormitory social networks. Social network analytic methods will be used to assess the primary peer network (the college residence) and a set of individuals exposed to others drinking risks will be identified to receive the intervention. This set of students will be engaged to serve as peer leaders to assist in reducing hazardous drinking behavior among their peers. This new intervention, a Bystander Brief Motivational Intervention (BBMI) spans Stages 1A and 1B of the stage model of behavioral therapies research and will utilize qualitative methods, an open trial, and a small controlled pilot trial within the targeted college community.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 187
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Rhode Island
    • Providence, Rhode Island, United States, 02912
      • Brown University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• First-year students in one of two residence halls. The subset of participants who were selected for intervention or control had to have been exposed to others who showed risk signs in the past month.

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

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: Bystander Brief Motivational Intervention; Two 2-hour in person sessions focusing on identifying alcohol risks among peers, determining optimal bystander strategies to use, and identifying personal barriers to intervening.	Behavioral: Bystander Brief Motivational Intervention; Group-based interactive intervention, conducted in two sessions, including multiple tasks and exercises to identify different levels of risk behavior, different types of strategies, and practicing responding to different scenarios. Personal goals for helping friends stay safe, and identifying whether intervention as a bystander was successful are included.
No Intervention: Assessment Control; Comparison group selected using the same criteria but receive no intervention.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Exposure to the Hazardous Drinking of Others	Number of risk signs observed in peers -validated measure	1 month and 3 months
The Bystanders to Alcohol Risk Scale - Strategies	Number of strategies used to help others - validated measure	1 month and 3 months
Alcohol Bystander Readiness to Help	Self-perception of readiness to help others in different situations - measure validation underway	1 month and 3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Brown University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 10, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 15, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): July 15, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 30, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 4, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): August 9, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 16, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 14, 2024
• Last Verified: August 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: AA025456

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