Web-Based Treatment of Heavy Drinking Among Women With a History of Sexual Trauma

NCT03111056 | Completed Results

• 1 other identifier: STUDY00001028
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 200
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this study is to empirically evaluate a web-based intervention to reduce heavy drinking among college women with a history of sexual assault who display elevated levels of psychological distress. College women with a history of sexual assault often report more heavy drinking and psychological distress than women without a history of assault. Moreover, women with assault histories often have difficulty regulating their emotions and tolerating distress which can lead to a pattern of drinking to cope distress. Trauma exposure, negative mood, and poor coping strategies have been associated with poor treatment outcomes and relapse following alcohol treatment. Incorporating distress tolerance and emotion regulation skills with an alcohol intervention may enhance treatment effects among women with a history of sexual assault by decreasing their motivation to drink to cope with depression or anxiety and by building adaptive coping strategies. Therefore, the web-based intervention will include cognitive behavioral skills for reducing alcohol consumption and incorporate emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills from Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

Conditions

Sexual Assault; Heavy Drinking

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Changes in Daily Drinking Questionnaire

  Assesses typical alcohol consumption over the course of a typical week in the past month

  Baseline (pre-treatment), Immediately upon completion of the intervention (post-treatment), 1-month and 6-month follow-up

Study Arms (2)

Web-Based Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

In an effort to reduce heavy drinking, participants will be asked to complete a daily monitoring assessment each morning for 14 days. Based on their responses, they will be provided a coping skill to either directly address their alcohol use or attempt to improve their emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills.

Behavioral: Alc-ERDT

Assessment Only Control

NO INTERVENTION

Participants will be asked to complete only the daily monitoring assessment each morning for 14 days.

Interventions

Alc-ERDT BEHAVIORAL

Web-based cognitive behavioral skills-based alcohol intervention that incorporates emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills

Web-Based Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Gender Eligibility Details: Self-identified as female
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Enrollment at the University of Washington,
• female,
• or older,
• lifetime history of sexual assault (defined as unwanted attempted or completed oral, vaginal, or anal penetration but excluding unwanted sexual contact only),
• at least 2 instances of heavy episodic drinking (defined as 4 or more drinks in 2 hours) in the past 30 days,
• average consumption equal or greater than 7 drinks per week in the past 30 days.

You may not qualify if:

• None

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Washington: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Washington

Seattle, Washington, 98105, United States

Location

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Cynthia Stappenbeck
• Organization: Georgia State University

cstappenbeck@gsu.edu

404-413-6321

Study Officials

• Cynthia Stappenbeck, PhD

  University of Washington

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: No
• Restrictive Agreement: No

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: The intervention and assessments are all completed online and therefore masking is not necessary.
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 31, 2017
• First Posted: April 12, 2017
• Study Start: January 1, 2017
• Primary Completion: January 1, 2019
• Study Completion: January 1, 2019
• Last Updated: May 14, 2026
• Results First Posted: May 14, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-05

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)