Clinical trial NCT03917875: Computer-Delivered PFI for Anxiety Sensitivity/Alcohol Intervention for Hazardous Drinkers With Elevated Anxiety Sensitivity
Official title: Computer-Delivered Personalized Feedback Intervention for Hazardous Drinkers With Elevated Anxiety Sensitivity
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Alcohol Drinking
Anxiety
Coping Behavior
Lead sponsor: University of Houston
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2019-04-17
Enrollment: 130
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Hazardous alcohol consumption is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in the United States. Further, it is highly comorbid with anxiety and depressive symptoms and disorders; hazardous alcohol use is associated with increased anxiety/depression. Indeed, 'affectively-vulnerable hazardous drinkers' (i.e., drinkers with elevated negative mood states or psychopathology) are 'at risk' for higher drinking rates, more problematic drinking, worsened mental health, and greater disability. Specialty care options are needed to address the unique 'affective needs' of hazardous drinkers. One promising intervention approach is to employ personalized feedback interventions (PFI). These interventions are brief, efficient, and have been shown to be effective in a number of settings and across an array of populations. However, PFIs have not been evaluated among affectively vulnerable hazardous drinkers.

In order to address the heterogeneity of negative mood states and disorders among hazardous drinkers, there is a need to theoretically orient the intervention approach on underlying transdiagnostic processes that underpin affective psychopathology. Anxiety sensitivity (AS), the tendency to fear anxiety-related sensations, is a core transdiagnostic vulnerability factor underlying the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders, other emotional disorders, and hazardous drinking. AS is malleable in response to psychosocial interventions, making it a prime risk factor to target in prevention/intervention programs, including PFI approaches. Integrated treatments that address hazardous drinking via AS are nonexistant. As most hazardous drinkers typically do not access treatment because of such barriers as cost, time commitments, stigma, and logistics (e.g., travel, scheduling appointments), there is a need to develop an accessible, brief, integrated tool to explicitly address the drinking-affective vulnerability comorbidity via AS. To address this public health gap, the current proposal seeks to employ a computer-delivered integrated PFI that directly addresses hazardous drinking-AS in a personalized manner. Hazardous drinkers with elevated AS will be randomly assigned to receive one session of PFI or attention information control with follow-up assessments at one week and one month post-intervention. The PFI will focus on targeted feedback about drinking behaviors, AS, and adaptive coping strategies.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* elevated anxiety sensitivity, hazardous drinking

Exclusion Criteria:

* current mental health/substance treatment

Primary outcomes:
measure: Motivation for change
timeFrame: 1 month
measure: Drinks per occasion
timeFrame: 1 month
measure: Anxiety Sensitivity
timeFrame: 1 month
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Drinking to cope
timeFrame: 1 month
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Houston
country: United States
facility: University of Houston
state: Texas
Study officials:
References: