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Abstract
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AIMS: To test the effectiveness of five interventions each utilizing a unique set of behavior change techniques on reducing alcohol consumption at 3- and 6-months among young adults with hazardous drinking.
DESIGN: A 5-arm parallel randomized controlled multicentre trial with 3- and 6-month follow-ups. SETTING: Recruitment at four emergency departments in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. PARTICIPANTS: Non-treatment seeking young adults (mean age 22.1; 68.5% female; 37.1% Black) who reported hazardous drinking. INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomized to one of five automated text message interventions for 12 weeks that interacted with participants on the 2 days per week they typically drank: assisted self-monitoring (TRACK: control condition; n=245); pre-drinking cognition feedback (PLAN; n=226); alcohol consumption feedback (USE; n=235); adaptive goal support (GOAL; n=214); and a combination of interventions (COMBO; n=221). MEASUREMENTS: Primary outcome was number of past month binge drinking days at 3-months post-randomization calculated from a 30-day Timeline Followback. Primary intention-to-treat analysis compared PLAN, USE, GOAL, and COMBO against TRACK (control condition). The four active conditions were not compared against each other. A secondary outcome, durability of effects, was measured at 6-months.
FINDINGS: From baseline to 3-month follow-up (retention=81.1%), compared with TRACK, in which past month mean binge drinking days increased from 2.7 to 3.4, mean binge drinking days decreased in COMBO from 3.0 to 2.3 (adjusted beta= -.52; 95% CI -.77, -.26), GOAL from 3.0 to 2.6 (adjusted beta=-.34; 95% CI -.59, -0.10) and USE from 3.3 to 2.9 (adjusted beta= -.38; 95% CI -.62, -.14). At 6-months (retention=73.8%), COMBO, GOAL, USE, and PLAN had significantly lower mean binge drinking days compared with TRACK.
CONCLUSION: Text message interventions incorporating feedback on either drinking plans and/or alcohol consumption and/or drinking limit goal support produced small yet durable reductions in binge drinking days in non-treatment seeking young adults with hazardous drinking.
Language: en |