Clinical trial NCT01307345: Remote Monitoring and Contingency Management Reinforcement for Alcohol Abstinence
Official title: Remote Monitoring and Contingency Management Reinforcement for Alcohol Abstinence
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Alcohol Use
Lead sponsor: UConn Health
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
First posted: 2011-03-02
Enrollment: 30
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: This pilot project proposes to monitor real-world alcohol use using a novel technology-cell phone videorecordings in conjunction with breathalyzer recordings-and to conduct a small randomized study of this technology for reinforcing alcohol abstinence. Individuals with frequent alcohol use (N = 30) will be asked to carry a study cell phone plus a handheld breathalyzer for one month. Participants will be randomized to one of two conditions: alcohol monitoring or alcohol monitoring plus contingency management. In both conditions, research assistants will telephone participants on their cell phone an average of 10 times per week to request submission of a breathalyzer sample using the video monitoring function on the cell phone. Samples will be time and date stamped, and the video containing the breathalyzer result will be sent to study staff via the cell phone. Participants will be compensated for each video recorded within one hour of receiving the prompt. Participants randomized to the contingency management condition will receive the same alcohol monitoring described above, and they will also receive reinforcement for each alcohol negative breath sample submitted within one hour of the prompt. Data from this pilot project will be useful for (1) determining the feasibility of assessing alcohol use in the natural environment via breathalyzers and cell phone technology, and (2) estimating effect sizes of a CM intervention that reinforces alcohol abstinence using breathalyzers and cell phone technology. In an exploratory manner, we will also evaluate the reliability and validity of the video monitoring procedure and trends toward changes in psychosocial functioning.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* age \>21 years
* frequent alcohol use
* willing to use a cell phone and breathalyzer for 28 days
* have a valid photo ID (driver's license, passport, state ID)
* are willing to sign an off-campus property transfer form and return study equipment in four weeks

Exclusion Criteria:

* desire for, or have received, treatment for alcohol use in the past 6 months
* non-English speaking

Primary outcomes:
measure: proportion of negative breath samples submitted
timeFrame: Week 4
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Farmington
country: United States
facility: University of Connecticut Health Center
state: Connecticut
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Conncecticut Health Center
name: Sheila Alessi, Ph.D.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Alessi SM, Petry NM. A randomized study of cellphone technology to reinforce alcohol abstinence in the natural environment. Addiction. 2013 May;108(5):900-9. doi: 10.1111/add.12093. Epub 2013 Jan 30.