Clinical trial NCT05208593: Alcohol PBS and Thinking About the Past
Official title: Alcohol Protective Behavioral Strategies and Thinking About the Past
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Alcohol Drinking in College
Lead sponsor: Texas A&M University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of Central Florida
First posted: 2022-01-26
Enrollment: 413
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: Individuals often think of how a situation or outcome could have turned out differently -- if only something was different or something had changed, then the outcome could have been better or worse. This is a common type of thinking, known as counterfactual thinking, that often takes the form of "if only" statements. These thoughts are frequent after negative events, but have also been found to occur after positive events and 'near misses'. Research has shown that their evaluative nature elicits a variety of consequences, such as biased decision making, changes in an event's meaningfulness, heightened positive or negative affect, and future behavioral changes (such as intentions, motivation, persistence/effort. Specifically, many areas of research involving counterfactuals have often looked into key elements that are often discussed in other health behavior literature, such as self-efficacy, motivation, and intentions. One such area that incorporates these elements is health promotion literature, such as Protective Behavioral Strategies (PBS) and alcohol consumption. The objectives of this study are laid out as such: First, to further explore the role counterfactuals play in increasing an individual's intentions toward behavioral change. Second, to further elucidate the inner and outer workings of Protective Behavioral Strategies for increasing positive health behaviors. Finally, to address the applicability of a counterfactual intervention on promoting intentions to use PBS.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* minimum age of 18 years

Exclusion Criteria:

* no exclusions at baseline
* participants who do not follow the instructions for the specific writing task will be unable to sign-up for the remaining follow up sessions (Parts 2-6) and will be excluded the final data analyses

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in Protective Behavioral Strategies-20
timeFrame: Weeks 1 - 6
measure: Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire
timeFrame: Week 1
measure: Alcohol Use Contemplation to Change Ladder
timeFrame: Week 1
measure: Change in Indication of Drinking and Strategy Use
timeFrame: Week 2 - Week 6
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in Perceived Behavioral Control
timeFrame: Week 1 and Week 2
measure: Change in Delay Discounting
timeFrame: Week 1, Week 4 and Week 6
measure: Change in Counterfactual Use and Intentions
timeFrame: Week 2 - Week 6
measure: Change in Personal Assessment of Responsible Drinker Identity Scale
timeFrame: Week 1, Week 4 and Week 6
measure: Change in Perceptions of Protective Behavioral Strategies
timeFrame: Week 1 - Week 6
measure: Change in Contemplation to Change Ladder
timeFrame: Week 1 and Week 2
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: College Station
country: United States
facility: Texas A&M University
state: Texas
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Central Florida
name: Rob Dvorak, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Texas A&M University
name: Rachel Smallman, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Texas A&M University
name: Sherecce Fields, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
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citation: Roese, N. J., Epstude, K. (2017). The functional theory of counterfactual thinking: New evidence, new challenges, new insights. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 56, 1-79.
citation: Smallman R, Roese NJ. Counterfactual Thinking Facilitates Behavioral Intentions. J Exp Soc Psychol. 2009 Jul;45(4):845-852. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.03.002.
citation: Tal-Or, N., Boninger, D. S., & Gleicher, F. (2004). On becoming what we might have been: Counterfactual thinking and self-efficacy. Self and Identity, 3(1), 5-26.
citation: Wong, E. M. (2007). Narrating near-histories: The effects of counterfactual communication on motivation and performance. Management & Organizational History, 2(4), 351-370. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744935907086119