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Promoting Maintenance of Change Following Brief Intervention for Alcohol Use

ConditionAlcohol Drinking in College
Trial statusNot yet recruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18+
SponsorUniversity of Massachusetts, Amherst

About this trial

All students who enroll in the study will receive an efficacious counselor-delivered brief motivational intervention. The intervention is based in principles of motivational interviewing. Students complete a baseline assessment on their alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences. During the hour-long session, the counselor uses information from the baseline assessment to compare the student's level of alcohol consumption to that of peers at the same university, discuss choices that may lead to experiencing negative consequences, and provide opportunities for the student to set goals for risk reduction.

This study will develop and pilot a maintenance enhancement intervention. The intervention is expected to consist of four components, for example: (1) Student participants may learn to use techniques based in mindfulness to cope with negative emotions. (2) Student participants may identify barriers to reducing their alcohol use and identify protective strategies for navigating those barriers. (3) Student participants may be presented with narratives from other students who successfully resumed moderate drinking after a heavy drinking episode. Students may also be prompted to identify alcohol free activities that they enjoy and can engage in after experiencing a heavy drinking episode. (4) Parents may also receive a handbook encouraging communication with their student about alcohol use.

Eligibility criteria

This trial does not accept healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

Currently enrolled student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

First time violator of the university alcohol policy

Mandated to complete the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention of College Students (BASICS) intervention

Minimum age 18

Disqualifiers

None

Trial design

Design model

Factorial

Treatments tested in this trial

  • Parent handbook

    Behavioral

    Handbook motivating parents to discuss alcohol use with their college student.

  • Coping with negative emotions

    Behavioral

    Mindfulness-based techniques are taught to improve ability to cope with negative emotions.

  • Problem-solving risky situations

    Behavioral

    Identifying and planning for barriers to change are encouraged.

  • Recovering from slips

    Behavioral

    Peer and personalized techniques are discussed to facilitate resumption of moderate drinking after a heavy drinking episode.

Treatment groups

160 Participants
are divided into 16 treatment groups

16

Treatment groups

See each treatment group below.

Group A: Coping with emotions, Parent handbook, Problem-solving risky situations, and Recovering from slipsActive comparator 4 interventions
Group B: Coping with negative emotions, Parent handbook , and Problem-solving for risky situationsActive comparator 3 interventions
Group C: Coping with negative emotions, Parent handbook , and Recovering from slipsActive comparator 3 interventions
Group D: Coping with negative emotions and Parent handbookActive comparator 2 interventions
Group E: Coping with negative emotions, Problem-solving for risky situations , and Recovering from slipsActive comparator 3 interventions
Group F: Coping with negative emotions and Problem-solving for risky situationsActive comparator 2 interventions
Group G: Coping with negative emotions and Recovering from slipsActive comparator 2 interventions
Group H: Coping with negative emotionsActive comparator 1 intervention
Group I: Parent handbook , Problem-solving for risky situations , and Recovering from slipsActive comparator 3 interventions
Group J: Parent handbook and Problem-solving for risky situationsActive comparator 2 interventions
Group K: Parent handbook and Recovering from slipsActive comparator 2 interventions
Group L: Parent handbookActive comparator 1 intervention
Group M: Problem-solving for risky situations and Recovering from slipsActive comparator 2 interventions
Group N: Problem-solving for risky situationsActive comparator 1 intervention
Group O: Recovering from slipsActive comparator 1 intervention
Group P: Assessment only control conditionNo intervention 0 interventions

Trial outcomes

Primary outcomes

1

Drinking Intentions

Drinking intentions will be assessed using a modified version of the daily drinking questionnaire (Young, Rodriguez, \& Neighbors, 2013). Participants will complete a 7-day grid, indicating how many drinks they intend to consume on a typical Sunday, Monday, etc. in the next month. Responses will be summed to capture intentions for typical weekly drinking.

Time frame
Immediate post-test
2

Coping motives

Thirteen items will be assessed capturing drinking to cope with both anxiety and depression (Cooper, 1994; Grant, Stewart, O'Connor, Blackwell, \& Conrod, 2007). Items assess using alcohol "to reduce my anxiety" or "to forget my worries" and are rated on a 1 (almost never/never) to 5 (almost always/always) scale. Items will be averaged to form separate scale scores for coping with anxiety and coping with depression. The measure has been shown to be reliable among college students.

Time frame
Immediate post-test
3

Parent-student communication

Five items will assess parents' intentions for engaging in general communication with their child about school, social activities, personal issues, romantic relationships, and personal problems (Barnes, Hoffman, Welte, Farrell, \& Dintcheff, 2006). Items are rated on a 1 (not at all) to 7 (frequently) scale and averaged to form a scale score. This measure has been shown to be responsive to a parent-based intervention and reliable among college students (Testa, Hoffman, Livingston, \& Turrisi, 2010).

Time frame
Immediate post-test
4

Maintenance self-efficacy

Maintenance self-efficacy will be assessed with the 8-item Brief Situational Confidence Questionnaire (BSCQ; Breslin, Sobell, Sobell, \& Agrawal, 2000). Student participants will indicate confidence in their ability to resist drinking heavily in eight situations, such as during pleasant times with others, (e.g., celebrating with a friend). Items are rated from 0% (not at all confident) to 100% (completely confident) and averaged to form a scale score. The measure is reliable and detects intervention-induced change among non-dependent young adults (Magill et al., 2017).

Time frame
Immediate post-test

Secondary outcomes

Other outcomes

Locations

This trial has no locations.

Sponsors and contacts

Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Lead sponsor

Source ClinicalTrials.gov

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