Alcohol Health Education Among College Drinkers
Condition: College Student Drinking
MeSH terms: Alcohol Drinking in College
Intervention: Alcohol 101 Plus (TM); Booster; Lilly for Better Health
Intervention description: It is a combination of several intervention components, including alcohol education, personalized feedback, attitude-focused strategies, and skills training. It also included a virtual bar, where participants provide information such as sex, weight, and state so that the program can provide tailored information on blood alcohol content (BAC) as well as state regulations regarding legal limits. The program provides updated BACs based upon choices about what to consume and how quickly to consume it. The intervention is highly interactive, with text, photos, videos, and narratives for fictional students with decision points where the participant chooses what the fictional student should do. It is a non-linear environment, where participants choose which sections of the website to explore.; Personalized feedback was emailed to participants. Content included sex-specific descriptive normative information (i.e., drinks per week typically consumed by males and females at the same institution), as well as reminders of harm reduction strategies (i.e., techniques the participant reported using in their last survey, versus techniques not used).; This is an online education session directed at other health behaviors besides alcohol. The site provides practical tips on general well-being such as healthy eating, physical activity, and stress management, as well as provides information on managing health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and depression. It was not expected to influence alcohol use.
Phase: Phase 1
Study type: Interventional
Primary purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Participant)
Masking description: The intervention is an online program, not an individual, so masking is not necessary. Similarly, the same online survey is deployed in all follow-up assessments regardless of condition, and data are not collected by individuals, so making is not necessary.
Enrollment: 537.0
Sex: All
Minimum age: 18 Years
Maximum age: 24 Years
Healthy volunteers: No

Summary:

      Alcohol use among college students is both widespread and problematic. There are many
      negative consequences associated with frequent alcohol use, ranging from mild (e.g.,
      hangovers, missed classes) to severe (e.g., assault, even death). Online interventions
      targeting alcohol use among college students reduce alcohol consumption and associated
      problems. These interventions are popular among colleges because they are relatively
      inexpensive and easily disseminated. However, online interventions are not as efficacious as
      face-to-face interventions, such as brief motivational interviews. The proposed project
      employs emailed boosters in a randomized, controlled trial in an effort to improve the
      efficacy an existing, popular, free online intervention, while at the same time maintaining
      low cost and easy dissemination.

      Adding boosters after interventions is a common technique to improve the efficacy of the
      original intervention. Boosters have been used successfully for alcohol use interventions
      among those seeking injury treatment in emergency medical settings. However, prior research
      has not supported booster efficacy for college student alcohol interventions. The current
      project develops and evaluates the effectiveness of boosters for a widely-used college
      student alcohol intervention. Specifically, the present project improves boosters by
      providing easy access via email; providing succinct, personalized feedback; and providing
      reminders of protective behavioral strategies. To test the effectiveness of adding boosters,
      participants randomized to alcohol-intervention-plus-boosters receive emails 2 weeks after
      the intervention with tailored feedback based upon their reported alcohol consumption.
      Participants are assessed up to nine months. The current research addresses the following
      specific aims:

      Aim 1: Improve the efficacy of an easily-disseminated computerized intervention by adding
      personalized follow-up boosters, where efficacy is evidenced by reduced drinking and negative
      alcohol-related consequences (i.e., stronger effect sizes in the booster group immediately
      after receiving the booster).

      Aim 2: Extend the duration of the reduction in drinking and associated problems through the
      use of these personalized follow-up boosters (i.e., significant differences between the
      booster and control groups at later timepoints).

      Aim 3: Examine protective behavioral strategies highlighted by the booster as mediating
      behavioral mechanisms of change.
    

Eligibility criteria:

        Inclusion Criteria:

          -  Current college students at the sponsor institution at the time of enrollment

          -  Between the ages of 18 and 24

          -  Consumed at least standard drink of alcohol in the past 2 weeks

        Exclusion Criteria:

          -  Under age of 18

          -  Over age of 24

          -  Not a college student

          -  Did not drink alcohol in the past 2 weeks