Nurse-led Alcohol Brief Intervention Plus Mobile Personalized Chat-based Support on Reducing Alcohol Use in University Students

NCT04025151 | Unknown

• 1 other identifier: Chat-based ABI (UniStudents)
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 770
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study aims to assess the effect of personalized support using instant messaging application on alcohol drinking reduction in university students proactively recruited from universities in Hong Kong.

Conditions

Alcohol Misuse

Keywords

chat-based IM; alcohol brief intervention; alcohol misuse; university students

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Amount of alcohol consumption per week (gram/week) at 6-month follow-up

  Assessed by unit in gram and compare the alcohol consumption between intervention and control group at 6-month after baseline.

  6-month after baseline

• Compare the primary outcome using intention-to-treat (ITT), per-protocol (PP) and as-treated (AP) analysis with Compliance Average Causal Effect (CACE) analysis

  To estimate large, moderate and null (same as the control) treatment effects and check whether ITT, AP and PP analysis estimates are biased compared with CACE estimates (alcohol consumption per week at 6-month follow-up)

  6-month after baseline

Secondary Outcomes (29)

• Amount of alcohol consumption per week (gram/week) at 12-month follow-up

  12-month after baseline

• AUDIT scores at 6-month follow-up

  6-month after baseline

• AUDIT scores at 12-month follow-up

  12-month after baseline

• Number of standard drinks (10g of alcohol) per week at 6-month follow-up

  6-month after baseline

• Number of standard drinks (10g of alcohol) per week at 12-month follow-up

  12-month after baseline

Study Arms (2)

Intervention group

EXPERIMENTAL

Alcohol brief intervention, leaflets, regular personalized messages on ABI through IM Apps, real-time chat-based support through IM Apps

Behavioral: Alcohol brief intervention; Behavioral: 12-page health warning leaflet; Behavioral: Regular messages through Instant Messaging (IM); Behavioral: Real-time chat-based support through IM Apps; Behavioral: AUDIT score interpretation sheet adapted from the Department of Health of Hong Kong

control group

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Alcohol brief intervention, leaflets, regular messages on general health through SMS

Behavioral: Alcohol brief intervention; Behavioral: 12-page health warning leaflet; Behavioral: General health through SMS; Behavioral: AUDIT score interpretation sheet adapted from the Department of Health of Hong Kong

Interventions

Alcohol brief intervention BEHAVIORAL

At baseline, subjects will receive face-to-face or online alcohol brief intervention developed based on the guideline by the World Health Organisation in 5-10 minutes

Intervention group; control group

12-page health warning leaflet BEHAVIORAL

Nurses will provide information about the consequences of drinking using a 12-page health warning booklet. Benefits of reducing and quit drinking will be emphasized by focusing on improving their perception towards the impacts on health, social problems, risky behaviors, academic performance and financial issues.

Intervention group; control group

Regular messages through Instant Messaging (IM) BEHAVIORAL

A total of 26 e-messages will be scheduled: once daily for the first week, 3 time/week for subsequent 4 weeks and 1 time/week for the remaining 7 weeks. The frequency will be adjusted according to IM Apps conversation and subject's requests.

Intervention group

Real-time chat-based support through IM Apps BEHAVIORAL

The chat-based IM support is the extension of baseline ABI and regular e-messages, which aims to provide real-time behavioral and psychosocial support to reduce or quit drinking. It will be personalized according to the subjects' characteristics (gender, drinking pattern and alcoholic drinks preferences), intention to drink and specific questions regarding drinking. Through real-time chatting (text and/or voice), drinkers can acquire information on consequences of drinking and gain social support immediately to reduce intention to drink and alcohol consumption.

Intervention group

General health through SMS BEHAVIORAL

After baseline, they will receive regular e-message through SMS with similar frequency to Intervention group with content on general health and the reminding the importance of participating in the follow-up surveys.

control group

AUDIT score interpretation sheet adapted from the Department of Health of Hong Kong BEHAVIORAL

a diagram explaining drinking behaviour and potential health risks, definitions of "alcohol unit" and "binge drinking", and advise on limiting daily drinking to 2 alcohol units for men and 1 unit for women

Intervention group; control group

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• Student aged ≥18 years from local universities in Hong Kong
• Able to read and communicate in Chinese (Cantonese or Mandarin)
• Likely to stay in Hong Kong for most of the time in the next 12 months
• Using IM Apps (WhatsApp or WeChat) installed on a smartphone
• Baseline AUDIT screening score ≥8

You may not qualify if:

• Having a history of psychiatric/psychological disease or currently on regular psychotropic medications
• Currently participating in treatments or programmes on reducing alcohol use

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The University of Hong Kong: lead

Study Sites (1)

School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong, 000000, Hong Kong

RECRUITING

Related Publications (20)

• Thomas GN, Wang MP, Ho SY, Mak KH, Cheng KK, Lam TH. Adverse lifestyle leads to an annual excess of 2 million deaths in China. PLoS One. 2014 Feb 26;9(2):e89650. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089650. eCollection 2014.

  PMID: 24586936 BACKGROUND

• Gore FM, Bloem PJ, Patton GC, Ferguson J, Joseph V, Coffey C, Sawyer SM, Mathers CD. Global burden of disease in young people aged 10-24 years: a systematic analysis. Lancet. 2011 Jun 18;377(9783):2093-102. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60512-6. Epub 2011 Jun 7.

  PMID: 21652063 BACKGROUND

• Wang MP, Ho SY, Lam TH. Underage alcohol drinking and medical services use in Hong Kong: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open. 2013 May 28;3(5):e002740. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-002740.

  PMID: 23793697 BACKGROUND

• Huang R, Ho SY, Wang MP, Lo WS, Lam TH. Reported alcohol drinking and mental health problems in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2016 Jul 1;164:47-54. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.04.028. Epub 2016 Apr 25.

  PMID: 27177803 BACKGROUND

• Department of Health. Report of population health survey 2014/15, Hong Kong SAR; 2018. Retrived at 24 Oct 2018 from: https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/static/51256.html

  BACKGROUND

• Kaner EF, Beyer FR, Muirhead C, Campbell F, Pienaar ED, Bertholet N, Daeppen JB, Saunders JB, Burnand B. Effectiveness of brief alcohol interventions in primary care populations. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018 Feb 24;2(2):CD004148. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004148.pub4.

  PMID: 29476653 BACKGROUND

• Fachini A, Aliane PP, Martinez EZ, Furtado EF. Efficacy of brief alcohol screening intervention for college students (BASICS): a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. 2012 Sep 12;7:40. doi: 10.1186/1747-597X-7-40.

  PMID: 22967716 BACKGROUND

• Kaner EF, Beyer FR, Garnett C, Crane D, Brown J, Muirhead C, Redmore J, O'Donnell A, Newham JJ, de Vocht F, Hickman M, Brown H, Maniatopoulos G, Michie S. Personalised digital interventions for reducing hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption in community-dwelling populations. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017 Sep 25;9(9):CD011479. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD011479.pub2.

  PMID: 28944453 BACKGROUND

• Larimer ME, Cronce JM, Lee CM, Kilmer JR. Brief intervention in college settings. Alcohol Res Health. 2004-2005;28(2):94-104.

  PMID: 19006997 BACKGROUND

• Moyer A, Finney JW, Swearingen CE, Vergun P. Brief interventions for alcohol problems: a meta-analytic review of controlled investigations in treatment-seeking and non-treatment-seeking populations. Addiction. 2002 Mar;97(3):279-92. doi: 10.1046/j.1360-0443.2002.00018.x.

  PMID: 11964101 BACKGROUND

• Fowler LA, Holt SL, Joshi D. Mobile technology-based interventions for adult users of alcohol: A systematic review of the literature. Addict Behav. 2016 Nov;62:25-34. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2016.06.008. Epub 2016 Jun 7.

  PMID: 27310031 BACKGROUND

• Kypri K, Hallett J, Howat P, McManus A, Maycock B, Bowe S, Horton NJ. Randomized controlled trial of proactive web-based alcohol screening and brief intervention for university students. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Sep 14;169(16):1508-14. doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2009.249.

  PMID: 19752409 BACKGROUND

• Kypri K, Vater T, Bowe SJ, Saunders JB, Cunningham JA, Horton NJ, McCambridge J. Web-based alcohol screening and brief intervention for university students: a randomized trial. JAMA. 2014 Mar 26;311(12):1218-24. doi: 10.1001/jama.2014.2138.

  PMID: 24668103 BACKGROUND

• Hoermann S, McCabe KL, Milne DN, Calvo RA. Application of Synchronous Text-Based Dialogue Systems in Mental Health Interventions: Systematic Review. J Med Internet Res. 2017 Jul 21;19(8):e267. doi: 10.2196/jmir.7023.

  PMID: 28784594 BACKGROUND

• Luk TT, Li WHC, Cheung DYT, Wong SW, Kwong ACS, Lai VWY, Chan SS, Lam TH, Wang MP. Chat-based instant messaging support combined with brief smoking cessation interventions for Chinese community smokers in Hong Kong: Rationale and study protocol for a pragmatic, cluster-randomized controlled trial. Contemp Clin Trials. 2019 Feb;77:70-75. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2018.12.013. Epub 2018 Dec 26.

  PMID: 30593882 BACKGROUND

• Bock BC, Barnett NP, Thind H, Rosen R, Walaska K, Traficante R, Foster R, Deutsch C, Fava JL, Scott-Sheldon LA. A text message intervention for alcohol risk reduction among community college students: TMAP. Addict Behav. 2016 Dec;63:107-13. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2016.07.012. Epub 2016 Jul 18.

  PMID: 27450909 BACKGROUND

• Michie S, Whittington C, Hamoudi Z, Zarnani F, Tober G, West R. Identification of behaviour change techniques to reduce excessive alcohol consumption. Addiction. 2012 Aug;107(8):1431-40. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.03845.x. Epub 2012 Apr 17.

  PMID: 22340523 BACKGROUND

• Eysenbach G; CONSORT-EHEALTH Group. CONSORT-EHEALTH: improving and standardizing evaluation reports of Web-based and mobile health interventions. J Med Internet Res. 2011 Dec 31;13(4):e126. doi: 10.2196/jmir.1923.

  PMID: 22209829 BACKGROUND

• Chau SL, Luk TT, Wong BYC, Wu YS, Cheung YTD, Ho SY, Kim JH, Lo HHM, Lam TH, Wang MP. A Brief Intervention With Instant Messaging or Regular Text Messaging Support in Reducing Alcohol Use: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2024 Jun 1;184(6):641-649. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.0343.

  PMID: 38587827 DERIVED

• Chau SL, Wong YC, Zeng YP, Lee JJ, Wang MP. Perceptions of Using Instant Messaging Apps for Alcohol Reduction Intervention Among University Student Drinkers: Semistructured Interview Study With Chinese University Students in Hong Kong. JMIR Form Res. 2023 Feb 27;7:e40207. doi: 10.2196/40207.

  PMID: 36848207 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Ethanol

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Alcohols; Organic Chemicals

Central Study Contacts

Siu Long Chau, PhD

CONTACT

+852-39176981; h1357885@connect.hku.hk

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: TRIPLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 16, 2019
• First Posted: July 18, 2019
• Study Start: September 30, 2020
• Primary Completion: September 30, 2022
• Study Completion: November 30, 2022
• Last Updated: September 13, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-09

Locations

HK (1)