Evaluation of an Expectancy Challenge Intervention for Food and Alcohol Disturbance Among College Students

NCT06810414 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: IRB-2024-467
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 75
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study aims to create and test an intervention that helps college students re-evaluate their beliefs about food and alcohol disturbance (FAD) and, in turn, reduce how often they engage in it or intend to in the future. The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. 1.Does the intervention help students have less positive beliefs about the effects of FAD and more negative beliefs about its effects?
2. 2.If college students' beliefs about FAD change, does that lead them to engage in it less often or plan to do it less?
3. 3.Will college students who engage in FAD sign up for the study, complete it, and feel that the intervention is helpful and valuable?

Conditions

College Drinking; Disordered Eating

Keywords

food and alcohol disturbance; drunkorexia; college drinking; disordered eating; expectancy challenge

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Food and Alcohol Disturbance Expectancy Questionnaire

  The Food and Alcohol Disturbance Expectancy Questionnaire is a 30-item self-report questionnaire that assesses positive and negative expectancies for FAD. Participants will be asked to indicate the extent to which they believe or expect each FAD-related outcome to occur if they engaged in FAD, using a five-point scale from 0 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree). Scores on each factor will be summed and averaged, with higher scores indicating stronger expectancies.

  This measure will be administered to all participants at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and at the study's one-month follow-up

• Food and Alcohol Disturbance Intentions Questions

  Two questions will be used to assess intentions to engage in FAD for both caloric compensation and alcohol enhancement motives. Items will be rated on a scale from 0 (Very unlikely) to 10 (Very likely), with higher scores indicating greater intentions to engage in FAD.

  This measure will be administered to all participants at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and at the study's one-month follow-up

• College Eating and Drinking Behaviors Scale

  The CEDBS is a 21-item questionnaire that measures the frequency of past-month FAD. Items are rated on a scale from 1 (Never) to 6 (Always), with higher scores indicating more frequent FAD.

  This measure will be administered at baseline and at the one-month follow-up

• Food and Alcohol Disturbance Timeline Followback

  This measure will assess past-month FAD frequency, including FAD motives and compensatory behaviors. The number of days that participants reported engaging in FAD will be summed, with higher scores indicating more frequent FAD.

  This measure will be administered at baseline and at the one-month follow-up

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire

  This measure will be administered at baseline and at the one-month follow-up

Study Arms (2)

FAD Expectancy Challenge Condition

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in the experimental condition will be delivered the FAD expectancy challenge intervention.

Behavioral: Food and alcohol disturbance expectancy challenge

Disordered Eating Psychoeducation

NO INTERVENTION

Participants in the control condition will receive psychoeducation on disordered eating behaviors, with only a brief mention of FAD, and excluding any discussion of expectancies and consequences.

Interventions

Food and alcohol disturbance expectancy challenge BEHAVIORAL

The intervention will focus on strengthening negative FAD expectancies and weakening positive FAD expectancies.

FAD Expectancy Challenge Condition

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 25 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Must be between the ages of 18 and 25
• Must report engaging in FAD at least two times over the past month

You may not qualify if:

• They have a current or past history of receiving psychological treatment for their alcohol use and/or eating behaviors
• They are currently trying to reduce their drinking

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Wyoming: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Wyoming

Laramie, Wyoming, 82071, United States

Location

Related Publications (3)

• Berry KA, Looby A. "If You Don't Eat, You Can Get Drunk Faster": A Qualitative Investigation of Food and Alcohol Disturbance (FAD) Expectancies. Subst Use Misuse. 2024;59(11):1647-1655. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2024.2369161. Epub 2024 Jun 25.

  PMID: 38918931 BACKGROUND

• Berry KA, Choquette EM, Looby A, Rancourt D. Unification of the food and alcohol disturbance literature: A systematic review. Clin Psychol Rev. 2024 Nov;113:102486. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2024.102486. Epub 2024 Aug 14.

  PMID: 39168054 BACKGROUND

• Shepherd CB, Berry KA, Ye X, Li K. Food and alcohol disturbance among US college students: a mixed methods scoping review. J Am Coll Health. 2023 Aug-Sep;71(6):1715-1731. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2021.1947300. Epub 2021 Jul 22.

  PMID: 34292851 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Alcohol Drinking in College

Interventions

Food; Ethanol

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Alcohol Drinking; Drinking Behavior; Behavior

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Diet, Food, and Nutrition; Physiological Phenomena; Food and Beverages; Alcohols; Organic Chemicals

Study Officials

• Katherine A Berry, MS

  University of Wyoming

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

• Alison Looby, PhD

  University of Wyoming

  STUDY CHAIR

Central Study Contacts

Katherine A Berry, MS

CONTACT

307-314-2669; kberry11@uwyo.edu

Alison Looby, PhD

CONTACT

307-314-2314; alooby@uwyo.edu

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: Clinical Psychology Doctoral Candidate

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 30, 2025
• First Posted: February 5, 2025
• Study Start: February 24, 2025
• Primary Completion: May 8, 2026
• Study Completion: May 8, 2026
• Last Updated: February 27, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)