Reducing Hazardous Alcohol Use in Social Networks Using Targeted Intervention

NCT02895984 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 1R01AA02352201A1
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 1,424
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

Alcohol use is almost ubiquitous on college campuses and first-year students are at particularly high risk of alcohol-related harm when they first make the transition to college. Peers are important agents in socializing both healthy and unhealthy behaviors, but despite the clear role of peer behavior in the maintenance of college problem drinking, there have been no efforts to measure the effect of individual change on the reduction of alcohol-related risks in the broader student body. That is, despite the importance of social connections for inducing and maintaining alcohol use in youth, intervention approaches have not measured nor capitalized on the potential of social influences for changing this problem behavior. It is essential that we understand the indirect effects of individual interventions and the impact such interventions have on the social structure and social connections. The best way to evaluate such effects is to use a research design that experimentally manipulates drinking using the best available intervention and measures its effects on the social network and its members. The purpose of this research is to investigate whether using an established individual Brief Motivational Intervention (BMI) administered to a small number of influential network members embedded in a social network significantly reduces heavy drinking and alcohol consequences among close peers who do not receive any intervention. In addition, the investigators will investigate social influence mechanisms of this transmitted effect, investigate how specific types of network connections and relationships moderate the indirect intervention effect, and investigate the effects of the intervention on network position and structure. First-year students at Brown will be enrolled and assessed early in their fall 2016 academic semester. Heavy drinkers in each dormitory who are in the top quartile of betweenness centrality, a social network construct that reflects high connectivity and potential influence, will either receive BMI or serve as controls, according to their dormitory's intervention assignment. All participants will be assessed again 5 and 12 months after baseline to measure changes in behavior and in peer ties. The long-term objective of this research is to understand how peer influences function in social networks in order to leverage those mechanisms to reduce problematic alcohol use in heavy drinking populations.

Conditions

Alcohol Consumption; Alcohol Abuse

Keywords

Social network analysis; Brief Motivational Interviewing; College Students

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Change in frequency of heavy drinking

  Heavy episodic drinking (HED) frequency is defined as the number of occasions in which participants drank 4+ (for females) or 5+ (for males) standard alcoholic drinks per drinking occasion during the past 30 days.

  baseline, 5-months post baseline, 12-months post-baseline

• Change in endorsed negative alcohol consequences

  24-item (no/yes) response on the Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire

  baseline, 5-months post baseline, 12-months post-baseline

Study Arms (2)

Brief Motivational Intervention (BMI)

EXPERIMENTAL

The intervention recipients in the BMI group will receive a 1-hour single-session alcohol intervention (BMI) with personalized normative feedback.

Behavioral: Single-session alcohol intervention (BMI)

Natural History Control (NHC)

NO INTERVENTION

Students in the NHC group will receive no contact.

Interventions

Single-session alcohol intervention (BMI) BEHAVIORAL

The intervention recipients will receive a 1-hour individual BMI. The BMI will follow the central principles of Motivational Interviewing (MI) and will include all the components determined to be efficacious in existing multi-component BMIs (e.g., personalized feedback on indicators of alcohol-related risk, including signs of alcohol dependence and family history of alcohol risk; normative comparisons of the participant's alcohol consumption with same-sex peers in his/her dorm and throughout campus, and protective behavioral strategies). Additional components will include reviewing the pros and cons of the participant's current pattern of alcohol use, providing estimates of the participant's recent Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC), and providing information about risks of specific negative outcomes at different levels of drinking. Participants will identify goals for behavior change, and with the counselor will develop a plan to achieve the goals and to address barriers to success.

Brief Motivational Intervention (BMI)

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Students enrolled as full-time first-year students at Brown University

You may not qualify if:

• Students not enrolled as full-time first-year students at Brown University

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Brown University: lead
• Oregon Research Institute: collaborator
• Smith College: collaborator
• University of Massachusetts, Worcester: collaborator

Related Publications (4)

• Ott MQ, Clark MA, Balestrieri SG, Gamarel KE, Barnett NP. Social Networks and Sexual and Gender Minority Disparities in Alcohol Use and Consequences Among First-Year College Students. LGBT Health. 2022 Oct;9(7):489-495. doi: 10.1089/lgbt.2019.0225. Epub 2022 Jun 21.

  PMID: 35727117 DERIVED

• Barnett NP, Clark MA, Kenney SR, DiGuiseppi G, Meisel MK, Balestrieri S, Ott MQ, Light J. Enrollment and assessment of a first-year college class social network for a controlled trial of the indirect effect of a brief motivational intervention. Contemp Clin Trials. 2019 Jan;76:16-23. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2018.10.015. Epub 2018 Nov 1.

  PMID: 30391343 DERIVED

• DiGuiseppi GT, Meisel MK, Balestrieri SG, Ott MQ, Clark MA, Barnett NP. Relationships between social network characteristics, alcohol use, and alcohol-related consequences in a large network of first-year college students: How do peer drinking norms fit in? Psychol Addict Behav. 2018 Dec;32(8):914-921. doi: 10.1037/adb0000402. Epub 2018 Sep 27.

  PMID: 30265059 DERIVED

• Kenney SR, DiGuiseppi GT, Meisel MK, Balestrieri SG, Barnett NP. Poor mental health, peer drinking norms, and alcohol risk in a social network of first-year college students. Addict Behav. 2018 Sep;84:151-159. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.04.012. Epub 2018 Apr 16.

  PMID: 29684764 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Alcohol Drinking; Alcoholism

Interventions

Ethanol; Methods; Body Mass Index

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Drinking Behavior; Behavior; Alcohol-Related Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Mental Disorders

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Alcohols; Organic Chemicals; Investigative Techniques; Body Weights and Measures; Body Constitution; Physical Examination; Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures; Diagnosis; Anthropometry; Physiological Phenomena; Biometry; Epidemiologic Measurements; Public Health; Environment and Public Health

Study Officials

• Nancy P Barnett, PhD

  Brown University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 22, 2016
• First Posted: September 12, 2016
• Study Start: August 1, 2016
• Primary Completion: October 31, 2017
• Study Completion: October 31, 2017
• Last Updated: August 2, 2019

Record last verified: 2019-07

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share