Telephone-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Young Adult Hazardous Drinkers

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Telephone-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to Assist Young Adults With Hazardous or Harmful Alcohol Use to Quit Drinking

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if telephone-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) works to help young adults with hazardous or harmful alcohol use quit drinking. It will also learn about the psychological effects of ACT on participants.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. Does telephone-based ACT increase the number of participants who quit drinking, as confirmed by a urine test?
2. Does telephone-based ACT help participants reduce their alcohol consumption and improve their psychological flexibility?

Researchers will compare telephone-based ACT to a telephone-based social support programme to see if ACT works to help young adults quit drinking.

Participants will:

1. Receive telephone-based ACT or social support once a week for 6 weeks Complete questionnaires about their alcohol use and psychological flexibility.
2. Keep a record of their daily alcohol consumption throughout the study using a standardised diary method.
3. Provide a urine sample at the 6-month follow-up if they report having quit drinking

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Hazardous Drinking; Harmful Alcohol Use
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Telephone-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT); Behavioral: Telephone-Based Social Support

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 226
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Ka Wai Katherine LAM, Doctor of Philosophy; Phone Number: +852 27666420; Email: kw-katherine.lam@polyu.edu.hk

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• (1) aged 18-35 years
• (2) able to read Chinese and speak Cantonese
• (3) have AUDIT scores ≥ 8

Exclusion Criteria:

• (1) currently receiving other behavioural therapies for drinking
• (2) has serious mental illnesses, defined as a Kessler Psychological Distress Scale score ≥ 13

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Telephone-Based ACT Intervention; Telephone-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for participants	Behavioral: Telephone-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT); Participants in the intervention group will receive six weekly telephone sessions of ACT (45-60 min each) from interventionist.
Other: Telephone-Based Social Support; telephone-based social support	Behavioral: Telephone-Based Social Support; Participants in the control group will receive six weekly telephone sessions of social support (45 min each) from interventionist.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Biochemically-Validated Abstinence	Participants who self-report quitting drinking in the past 30 days are tested for ethyl glucuronide (a by-product of alcohol metabolism) via urine strips to confirm abstinence biochemically.	T4 (6 months after the end of the intervention)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Self-Reported 30-Day Abstinence	Reduction in alcohol consumption and self-reported 30-day abstinence will be recorded using TLFB. Participants will be asked to report the number of drinks they have consumed within the past 30 days.	T0 (baseline), T1 (post-intervention), T2 (1 month after the intervention), T3 (3 months after the intervention), T4 (6 months after the intervention)
Reduction in Alcohol Consumption	Defined as 50% or more reduction in average alcohol consumption per day compared to baseline, measured using the Timeline Follow-Back (TLFB) questionnaire.	T1 (post-intervention), T2 (1 month after the intervention), T3 (3 months after the intervention), T4 (6 months after the intervention)
Psychological Flexibility Index	Personalised Psychological Flexibility Index(PPFI) will be used to measure psychological flexibility by 19 items rating on a 7-point scale. Higher scores represent greater psychological flexibility. It has been validated among Chinese college students	T0 (baseline), T1 (post-intervention), T2 (1 month after the intervention), T3 (3 months after the intervention), T4 (6 months after the intervention)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): August 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2029
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2029

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 26, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 26, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): June 2, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 2, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 26, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy; Randomized controlled trial; Alcohol use; Telephone-based intervention; Psychological flexibility
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Drinking Behavior; Behavior; Alcohol Drinking
• Other Study ID Numbers: ACT Alcohol

Drug and device information, study documents

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