Exploring Whether Self-affirmation Promotes Reduced Alcohol Consumption in Response to Narrative Health Information

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Alcohol Drinking
• Interventions: Behavioral: Control task; Behavioral: Self-affirmation manipulation task

• Registration Number: NCT02681900
• Lead Sponsor: University of Sussex

Brief Summary

This study tests the effects of a self-affirmation manipulation on (i) acceptance of a health message detailing the risks of alcohol consumption, (ii) engagement with the health message and (iii) alcohol consumption at 7-day follow-up. Half of the participants complete a self-affirmation manipulation, where they reflect on their most important values, whereas the other half complete a control equivalent, where they reflect on their least important values. Immediately post-intervention, all participants then receive information about the risks of alcohol consumption and complete measures of message acceptance and engagement with the materials. Seven days after intervention, participants self-report their alcohol consumption in the previous 7 days.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2014-10
• Primary Completion: 2014-12
• Study Completion: 2014-12
• Status Verified: 2016-02
• Study First Submitted: 2016-02-02
• Study First Submitted QC: 2016-02-09
• Last Update Submitted: 2016-02-09
• Study First Posted: 2016-02-15
• Last Update Posted: 2016-02-15

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: Female
• Target Recruitment: 142

Inclusion Criteria

• Female
• Drinkers

Exclusion Criteria

• Male
• Non-drinkers

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Control	Control task	Participants in this arm complete a control equivalent of the self-affirmation task, where they write about their least important value, reasons why is may be important to someone else and an example of when another person may have enacted that value. This is the Control task as described in the intervention.
Self-affirmation	Self-affirmation manipulation task	Participants in the self-affirmation arm write about their most important value, reasons why is important and an example of when they enacted that value. This is the Self-affirmation manipulation task as described in the intervention.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Alcohol consumption 7 days after intervention	7 days after intervention	Seven days after the intervention, participants are contacted and asked to report their alcohol consumption over the previous 7-day period via self-report items. Participants report the type of alcohol (e.g., beer, spirit), type of container (e.g., small glass, pint, single measure) and the number of each type of drink they had consumed on each day over the previous 7 days using the adapted version (Armitage, Harris, \& Arden, 2011) of the timeline fallback technique (Sobell \& Sobell, 1992). The total number of units consumed by each participant was then calculated using the UK NHS alcohol unit calculator (NHS Choices, 2013: www.nhs.uk/tools/pages/alcohol-unit-calculator.aspx).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Effect of intervention on engagement with health information	Immediately after intervention	Measures to assess whether the intervention affected the extent to which people engaged with the information were taken immediately after the intervention via self-report items. Engagement items included perspective taking, attention, emotion and visualization. Responses to items were given on 7-point scales with relevant anchors (e.g. strongly disagree \[1\] to strongly agree \[7\]). A mean score was calculated for each participant on each measure, with higher scores indicating greater levels of that construct.
Effect of intervention on acceptance of health information	Immediately after intervention	Measures to assess whether the intervention affected the extent to which people accepted information about the risks of alcohol consumption were taken immediately after the intervention via self-report items. Acceptance items included personal relevance, negative affect, attitudes, anticipated regret and intentions. Responses to items were given on 7-point scales with relevant anchors (e.g. strongly disagree \[1\] to strongly agree \[7\]). A mean score was calculated for each participant on each measure, with higher scores indicating greater levels of that construct.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Sussex; 🇬🇧 Falmer, Brighton, United Kingdom