Developing and Testing an Online Intervention for Alcohol and Cannabis Misuse and Healthy Relationship Skills Among Young Adult Couples

NCT06422299 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: STUDY00017992K23AA031034-01
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 60
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to develop and test a brief online intervention to reduce alcohol and cannabis misuse and improve healthy relationship skills among young adult couples. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Will the intervention be feasible and acceptable to young adult couples?
• Will the intervention demonstrate initial efficacy in reducing risky substance use and increasing relationship functioning? Eligible couples will complete a virtual baseline session and be randomized to intervention condition (online intervention with 3-5 weeks of self-paced modules) or control condition (no intervention). Couples will complete two follow-up surveys (post-assessment - approximately 5 weeks after baseline, 3-month). Couples in the control condition will be offered the intervention after 3-month follow-up. Researchers will compare intervention and control groups to see if there there is a difference between the groups on substance misuse and relationship functioning at post-assessment and 3-month follow-up.

Conditions

Alcohol Drinking; Cannabis Use; Couples

Keywords

alcohol use, cannabis use, couples, healthy relationships, young adults

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (6)

• Heavy episodic and high intensity drinking

  Alcohol use - number of days in the past month participant engaged in heavy episodic drinking (4+/5+ drinks in one occasion for women/men) and high intensity drinking (8+/10+ drinks in one occasion for women/men)

  Screening, baseline, approximately 5 weeks after baseline, 3-month followup

• Daily Drinking Questionnaire (DDQ)

  Alcohol use - Average total drinks per week will be calculated as the sum of the total number of drinks reported.

  Screening, baseline, approximately 5 weeks after baseline, 3-month followup

• Daily Marijuana Questionnaire (DMQ)

  Cannabis use - Average total hours high from cannabis per week will be calculated as the sum of the total hours high reported

  Screening, baseline, approximately 5 weeks after baseline, 3-month followup

• Intensity of Marijuana Use

  Cannabis use intensity - Average number of times used cannabis per day will be calculated as the mean number of times participant reports using cannabis per each day of a typical week in the past month

  Screening, baseline, approximately 5 weeks after baseline, 3-month followup

• Perceived Program Effects on Healthy Relationship Self-Efficacy items

  Healthy relationship self-efficacy - 3 items assessing perceived intervention impacts on healthy relationship self-efficacy scored 0=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree. Scores will be summed, total scores will range from 0 to 15, with higher scores indicating greater healthy relationship self-efficacy

  Screening, baseline, approximately 5 weeks after baseline, 3-month followup

• Couples Satisfaction Index

  Relationship satisfaction - sum of 4 items ranges from 0 to 21, higher scores indicate greater relationship satisfaction

  Screening, baseline, approximately 5 weeks after baseline, 3-month followup

Study Arms (2)

Online, couples-based intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

A novel, brief online intervention for young adults community couples who engage in alcohol and cannabis co-use.

Behavioral: Online, couples-based intervention

Assessment-only control

NO INTERVENTION

Couples in the control condition will not receive an intervention.

Interventions

Online, couples-based intervention BEHAVIORAL

During Phase 1 of the present study, the intervention will be iteratively developed using a rigorous, user-centered design approach through integration of knowledge gained from Phase 1 dyadic analyses and qualitative interviews, and existing gold-standard treatments for substance use among couples, including Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy (IBCT; Christensen \& Doss, 2016) and Behavioral Couples Therapy for Alcohol (ABCT; McCrady et al, 1995) and substance use brief interventions for young adults (Halladay, et al., 2019; Tanner-Smith et al., 2015).

Online, couples-based intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 29 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Both partners in the couple are 18-29 years old
• In a committed romantic relationship (e.g., dating seriously, cohabiting, married) with each other for at least 3 months
• Face-to-face contact their partner at least 5 days per week
• Live in Washington State
• Have a valid email address and access to a cell phone
• Report alcohol and cannabis co-use at least three times in the past month
• Willingness to: complete online surveys during the allotted time frames, receive text messages and emails from the project, complete a baseline session, and participate during the same time period as their partner

You may not qualify if:

• Couples who endorse any perpetration or receipt of severe interpersonal aggression during screening will be excluded and provided with resources

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Washington: lead
• National Institutes of Health (NIH): collaborator
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA): collaborator

Related Publications (6)

• Patrick ME. A Call for Research on High-Intensity Alcohol Use. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2016 Feb;40(2):256-9. doi: 10.1111/acer.12945. No abstract available.

  PMID: 26842244 BACKGROUND

• Collins RL, Parks GA, Marlatt GA. Social determinants of alcohol consumption: the effects of social interaction and model status on the self-administration of alcohol. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1985 Apr;53(2):189-200. doi: 10.1037//0022-006x.53.2.189. No abstract available.

  PMID: 3998247 BACKGROUND

• Lee CM, Kilmer JR, Neighbors C, Atkins DC, Zheng C, Walker DD, Larimer ME. Indicated prevention for college student marijuana use: a randomized controlled trial. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2013 Aug;81(4):702-9. doi: 10.1037/a0033285. Epub 2013 Jun 10.

  PMID: 23750464 BACKGROUND

• Patrick ME, Veliz PT, Terry-McElrath YM. High-intensity and simultaneous alcohol and marijuana use among high school seniors in the United States. Subst Abus. 2017 Oct-Dec;38(4):498-503. doi: 10.1080/08897077.2017.1356421. Epub 2017 Jul 20.

  PMID: 28726580 BACKGROUND

• Scott ME, Moore KA, Fish H, Benedetti A, Erikson S. OPRE Report #2015-65a. Prepared by Child Trends. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2015. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/b_hmre_recommended_outcome_measures_for_adolescents_508_0.pdf

  BACKGROUND

• Funk JL, Rogge RD. Testing the ruler with item response theory: increasing precision of measurement for relationship satisfaction with the Couples Satisfaction Index. J Fam Psychol. 2007 Dec;21(4):572-83. doi: 10.1037/0893-3200.21.4.572.

  PMID: 18179329 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Alcohol Drinking

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Drinking Behavior; Behavior

Central Study Contacts

Katherine Walukevich-Dienst, PhD

CONTACT

508-282-0413; kwd1@uw.edu

Hana Basu, BA

CONTACT

425-372-6459

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Acting Assistant Professor, School of Medicine

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 8, 2024
• First Posted: May 20, 2024
• Study Start (Estimated): September 15, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2027
• Last Updated: May 6, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-05