Evaluating Change in Drinking Identity as a Mechanism for Reducing Hazardous Drinking - Study 2
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Completed
- Sponsor
- University of Washington
- Enrollment
- 329
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Changes in Implicit Drinking identity
Study Overview
Brief Summary
The purpose of the proposed research is to evaluate whether changes in drinking identity (DI; how much one associates one's self with drinking) can reduce hazardous drinking (HD; heavy alcohol use and negative alcohol-related consequences) among current college students. The study seeks to explore whether manipulating DI among participants will have changes in self-efficacy, craving, and HD. If such an effect can be found, DI may be a mechanism for HD behavior change and will allow researchers to develop and improve interventions aimed at HD behaviors in high-risk young adults.
Detailed Description
Experimentally manipulate DI to increase self-efficacy, decrease alcohol craving and reduce HD. We will recruit 328 student hazardous drinkers and use an expressive writing task to manipulate their DI, the salience of their social network, and their writing perspective. The last factor is included because writing in a self-distanced (3rd person) vs. self-immersed (1st person) perspective has been linked to greater cognitive control. We will evaluate the manipulation's immediate effects on DI, self-efficacy, and craving. Participants will also complete two weekly follow-up "booster" sessions. Longer-term effects on DI, self-efficacy, craving and HD will be evaluated at additional 2-week, 1-month, and 3-month follow-ups.
With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, new subject enrollment was paused between March and September 2020. In light of the continued COVID-19 pandemic, the study team made the decision to move the in-person, lab-based session (where participants completed the writing task) to online sessions as of October 2020. With the move to online sessions, we have discontinued the cue reactivity task and the accompanying craving assessment. Inclusion criteria have shifted slightly -- we now explicitly require participants to be currently living in Washington State (this criterion was implicit in our previous criteria and procedures) . The structure of the study otherwise remains the same.
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Factorial
- Primary Purpose
- Other
- Masking
- Single (Investigator)
Masking Description
The PI, the project coordinator, and experimenters will not know which participants have been assigned to each condition. Outcomes are assessed via computer/online survey. There is no human outcome assessor in this study.
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages
- 18 Years to 25 Years (Adult)
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria
- •Participants must be full-time UW students, fluent in the English language, and recent (past week) drinkers who self-report drinking hazardously (i.e., score an 8 or above on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test, AUDIT). Participants must also own a smartphone.
Exclusion Criteria
- Not provided
Arms & Interventions
Drinking; No network; First-person
In this narrative writing task, the participant is asked to imagine him/herself as a low-risk drinker and describe this future self; the prompt does not instruct to write about social network (important people, friends, family); participant will write using first-person pronouns.
Intervention: Narrative Writing (Behavioral)
Drinking; Network; First-person
In this narrative writing task, the participant is asked to imagine him/herself as a low-risk drinker and describe this future self; the prompt instructions include writing about social network (important people, friends, family); participant will write using first-person pronouns.
Intervention: Narrative Writing (Behavioral)
Drinking; No network; Third-person
In this narrative writing task, the participant is asked to imagine him/herself as a low-risk drinker and describe this future self; the prompt does not instruct to write about social network (important people, friends, family); participant will write using third-person pronouns.
Intervention: Narrative Writing (Behavioral)
Drinking; Network; Third-person
In this narrative writing task, the participant is asked to imagine him/herself as a low-risk drinker and describe this future self; the prompt instructions include writing about social network (important people, friends, family); participant will write using third-person pronouns.
Intervention: Narrative Writing (Behavioral)
Smartphone; No network; First-person
In this narrative writing task, the participant is asked to imagine him/herself as someone who has reduced their smartphone usage and describe this future self; the prompt does not instruct to write about social network (important people, friends, family); participant will write using first-person pronouns.
Intervention: Narrative Writing (Behavioral)
Smartphone; Network; First-person
In this narrative writing task, the participant is asked to imagine him/herself as someone who has reduced their smartphone usage and describe this future self; the prompt instructions include writing about social network (important people, friends, family); participant will write using first-person pronouns.
Intervention: Narrative Writing (Behavioral)
Smartphone; No network; Third-person
In this narrative writing task, the participant is asked to imagine him/herself as someone who has reduced their smartphone usage and describe this future self; the prompt does not instruct to write about social network (important people, friends, family); participant will write using third-person pronouns.
Intervention: Narrative Writing (Behavioral)
Smartphone; Network; Third-person
In this narrative writing task, the participant is asked to imagine him/herself as someone who has reduced their smartphone usage and describe this future self; the prompt instructions include writing about social network (important people, friends, family); participant will write using third-person pronouns.
Intervention: Narrative Writing (Behavioral)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Changes in Implicit Drinking identity
Time Frame: will be assessed at lab 1, lab 2, lab 2 (weeks 1-3) & long-term follow up (2-week, 1 month, 3 month); data will be reported through study completion (3 month follow up)
drinking identity implicit association test (IAT)
changes in self-efficacy
Time Frame: will be assessed at lab 1, lab 2, lab 2 (weeks 1-3) & long-term follow up (2-week, 1 month, 3 month); data will be reported through study completion (3 month follow up)
drinking refusal self-efficacy questionnaire
changes in last 3 month alcohol problems
Time Frame: Assessed at lab 1 (week1) and 3-month follow up; data will be reported through study completion (3 month follow up)
Rutgers Alcohol Problems Inventory (RAPI) will be used to assess alcohol problems; item response options range from 0 to 4; total score ranges from 0 to 100; higher scores = worse outcomes
Changes in Explicit Drinking identity
Time Frame: will be assessed at lab 1, lab 2, lab 2 (weeks 1-3) & long-term follow up (2-week, 1 month, 3 month); data will be reported through study completion (3 month follow up)
Alcohol Self-concept Scale; item responses range from -3 to +3; average score on all items is calculated; lower scores represent a better outcome
cue-related craving
Time Frame: Cue related craving will be assessed following the cue reactivity task, which occurs during the third and final lab-based session (technically, the third week of the study)
current craving from cue reactivity task; assessed via alcohol urge questionnaire
changes in past week craving
Time Frame: will be assessed at lab 1, lab 2, lab 2 (weeks 1-3) & long-term follow up (2-week, 1 month, 3 month); data will be reported through study completion (3 month follow up)
Penn Alcohol Craving Scale; item responses range from 0 to 6; total score on all items is calculated (can range from 0 to 30); lower scores = better outcome
changes in alcohol consumption
Time Frame: will be assessed at lab 1, lab 2, lab 2 (weeks 1-3) & long-term follow up (2-week, 1 month, 3 month); data will be reported through study completion (3 month follow up)
Modified timeline follow back will assess past daily alcohol consumption (# standard drinks per day); higher consumption = worse outcomes
changes in last two week alcohol problems
Time Frame: assessed at lab 2 and 3 (weeks 2 and 3) and at 2 week and 1 month follow up; data will be reported through 1 month follow up
adapted from RAPI \& Young Adult Alcohol Problems Screening Test (YAAPST); item responses are 0 (did not happen) or 1 (happened); higher scores (range from 0 to 10) = worse outcomes
Secondary Outcomes
- Changes in Readiness to Change Drinking(post-writing (lab 1, lab 2, lab 3) long-term follow up (2-week, 1 month, 3 month); data will be reported through study completion (3 month follow up))
- changes in future drinking intentions(assessed at lab 1, lab 2, lab 3 (weeks 1-3); data will be reported through week 3)
- changes in frequency of heavy & extreme binge drinking(assessed at lab 1 (week 1) &)
- Changes in single-item assessing self-efficacy to limit one's drinking(will be assessed at lab 1, lab 2, lab 2 (weeks 1-3) & long-term follow up (2-week, 1 month, 3 month); data will be reported through study completion (3 month follow up))
Investigators
Kristen Lindgren
Associate Professor, School of Medicine: Psychiatry
University of Washington