Evaluating the Efficacy of a Brief Online Intervention Among Current Heavy Drinkers

NCT05767567 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: HR-22/23-34937
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 867
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Unhealthy alcohol consumption is common in the UK and causes tremendous harm to the individual, as well as harm to others. A significant gap in providing alcohol support is that most people with unhealthy alcohol consumption will never receive advice to cut down on their drinking. However, many are interested in self-directed interventions to help them evaluate their drinking and to motivate reductions in alcohol use. One such promising intervention uses online personalised normative feedback (PNF) which compares a person's drinking with others in the general population of the same age and sex. PNF interventions are thought to work because many people with unhealthy alcohol consumption overestimate how much others drink. Multiple trials have demonstrated that providing PNF to people with unhealthy consumption reduces their alcohol use . While several UK websites do provide feedback on assessment of risk (e.g., Down Your Drink introductory section, Alcohol Change UK), there appears to be no online intervention that provides PNF for unhealthy alcohol consumption. The major objective of this pilot project is to conduct a two-arm, parallel group randomised controlled trial (RCT) in which 1,318 participants recruited from the Prolific website who have identified themselves as drinking 14 or more units per week are randomly assigned to one of two groups - a) those who are offered a PNF report, and b) those in a no intervention comparator group. Participants in the comparator group will not be provided any intervention materials but will instead be given a list of the different components of the PNF feedback and will be asked to think about how useful they would find each of them. Follow-up assessment will occur at 1 and 6 months post-randomisation. The project is described as a pilot because it is a preliminary evaluation of the PNF intervention in a UK context.

Conditions

Alcohol Consumption

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Number of drinks consumed during a typical week

  Three months

Study Arms (2)

Brief Check Your Drinking (CYD)

EXPERIMENTAL

The CYD is a brief online intervention designed to provide personalized normative feedback aimed at motivating reductions in drinking

Behavioral: Brief Check Your Drinking (CYD)

Control

NO INTERVENTION

Interventions

Brief Check Your Drinking (CYD) BEHAVIORAL

The CYD is a brief online intervention designed to provide personalized normative feedback aimed at motivating reductions in drinking

Brief Check Your Drinking (CYD)

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• \) score 8 or more on the AUDIT (indicating current unhealthy alcohol use); and 2) endorsed the attention check questions correctly.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• King's College London: lead

Study Sites (1)

King's College London

London, WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Alcohol Drinking

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Drinking Behavior; Behavior

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 2, 2023
• First Posted: March 14, 2023
• Study Start: March 2, 2023
• Primary Completion: July 3, 2023
• Study Completion: July 31, 2023
• Last Updated: September 13, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

GB (1)