College Student Daily Life and Alcohol Use Study

Not Applicable

Active, not recruiting

• Conditions: Drinking, College; Drinking Heavy
• Interventions: Behavioral: eCHECKUP TO GO; Behavioral: Text messaging boosters

• Registration Number: NCT06365125
• Lead Sponsor: Boston University Charles River Campus

Brief Summary

Heavy alcohol use among college students is associated with a range of negative consequences. However, college students rarely seek resources or treatment to change their alcohol use. Brief alcohol interventions (BAIs) have been developed as an alternative method to address heavy alcohol use among college students and show promise in reducing hazardous alcohol use in college students. Despite the established efficacy of BAIs, effects are often small and short-lived, and additional research is needed to investigate how BAIs can become more efficacious and endure for longer periods of time, particularly for computer-delivered interventions to improve accessibility and scalability of these interventions to a wider range of college students. Boosters or adjunctive components to BAIs have been suggested as a method to enhance the magnitude and duration of intervention effects. However, there remains a need to identify and test booster approaches that are both appealing and engaging to college students and effective in reducing heavy/hazardous alcohol use above and beyond the magnitude and duration seen by BAIs alone. The purpose of the study is to develop and test a novel, text-messaging booster as an adjunct to a current, evidence-based brief intervention, eCHECKUP TO GO, aimed at reducing college student heavy/hazardous alcohol use. Participants will complete baseline measures and will then be randomized to 1 of 3 conditions, stratified by sex at birth: 1) assessment only, 2) BAI only, and 3) Enhanced Intervention (BAI + four weeks of text messaging boosters). It is hypothesized that those randomized to the enhanced intervention condition will show a greater reduction in heavy/hazardous alcohol use at 3-month follow-up compared to the BAI and assessment only groups.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2024-03-22
• Study First Submitted: 2024-04-10
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-04-10
• Study First Posted: 2024-04-15
• Status Verified: 2025-01
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-01-20
• Last Update Posted: 2025-01-22
• Primary Completion: 2025-05-01
• Study Completion: 2025-05-01

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 129

Inclusion Criteria

• 1. Ages 18-30; 2) report at least 2 heavy drinking episodes in the past month; 3) be enrolled in an undergraduate degree program; 4) own a smartphone with capability to run smartphone application

Exclusion Criteria

• 1. current or past-year treatment (counseling or medication) for alcohol or drug use, 2) history of delirium tremens and/or seizures as a result of alcohol withdrawal, and 3) a lifetime diagnosis of either bipolar disorder or schizophrenia

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Intervention (BAI) Only	eCHECKUP TO GO	Only the brief alcohol intervention, eCHECKUP TO GO, is administered to this group
Enhanced Intervention	Text messaging boosters	Brief alcohol intervention, eCHECKUP TO GO, + 4 weeks of text messaging boosters (Monday, Thursday-Sunday)
Enhanced Intervention	eCHECKUP TO GO	Brief alcohol intervention, eCHECKUP TO GO, + 4 weeks of text messaging boosters (Monday, Thursday-Sunday)

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Alcohol-related negative consequences	assessed at baseline and 3-month follow-up	Number of alcohol-related negative consequences experienced in the past month
Heavy drinking episodes	assessed at baseline and 3-month follow-up	Number of past-month heavy drinking episodes (consuming 4+ drinks for females and 5+ drinks for males in one occasion)

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Boston University Charles River Campus; 🇺🇸 Boston, Massachusetts, United States