Project SPACE: Testing Daily Text Messages to Reduce Alcohol Use and HIV Risk Behavior
Project SPACE (Study Pilot on Alcohol Construals Everyday)
2 other identifiers
interventional
240
1 country
1
Brief Summary
Project SPACE is a micro-randomized trial evaluating the proximal effects theory-based text messages on alcohol use and sexual HIV risk behaviors among HIV-negative young adult men at the day-level. At baseline, all participants will complete GamePlan, an existing brief online sexual health program. During the subsequent 8-week intervention period, participants will complete a brief morning assessment of the preceding day and will be randomized each afternoon, with equal probability, to receive concrete ("how"), abstract ("why"), neutral control, or no afternoon intervention messages. Participants will also complete pre- and post-intervention measures. The effects of GamePlan are not being separately evaluated in this study.
Trial Health
Trial Health Score
Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach
participants targeted
Target at P50-P75 for not_applicable hiv
Started Feb 2027
Shorter than P25 for not_applicable hiv
1 active site
Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.
Trial Relationships
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Study Timeline
Key milestones and dates
First Submitted
Initial submission to the registry
August 13, 2026
CompletedFirst Posted
Study publicly available on registry
August 18, 2026
CompletedStudy Start
First participant enrolled
February 1, 2027
ExpectedPrimary Completion
Last participant's last visit for primary outcome
December 1, 2027
Study Completion
Last participant's last visit for all outcomes
December 1, 2027
August 19, 2026
August 1, 2026
10 months
August 13, 2026
August 17, 2026
Conditions
Keywords
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcomes (2)
Daily number of standard alcoholic drinks
Each morning, participants will report the total number of standard alcoholic drinks consumed on the preceding calendar day. Days without alcohol use will be assigned a value of zero. This day-level outcome will be examined in relation to the afternoon message condition assigned on the corresponding calendar day
Daily during the 8-week intervention period (Days 1-56)
Daily sexual HIV Risk Indicator
Each morning, participants will report sexual behaviors occurring on the preceding calendar day. A prespecified binary day-level indicator will be coded as yes when at least one behavior meets the study's sexual HIV-risk definition and no when none is reported. This outcome will be examined in relation to the afternoon message condition assigned on the corresponding calendar day.
Daily during the 8-week intervention period (Days 1-56)
Study Arms (1)
GamePlan and Daily Micro-Randomized Texts for 8 weeks Arm
EXPERIMENTALAll participants will complete a baseline assessment followed by GamePlan, an online sexual-health program. Participants will then complete an 8-week daily text-messaging protocol. Texts will be delivered from an automated computerized system. Each day of the 8-week texting intervention period, there will be 2 sets of texts: morning and afternoon. Each morning, participants will receive questions about their behaviors the preceding day, including alcohol use, sexual behaviors (e.g., type of sexual activity, partner type). In the afternoons, participants will be micro-randomized every day for 8 weeks to receive a series of (1) CLT-concrete text messages; (2) CLT-abstract text messages; (3) control messages; or (4) no messages. Each afternoon, there will be a 25% chance of receiving one of the 4 afternoon conditions. Randomization on any given day will be independent of previous texts. Participants will complete baseline and post-intervention assessments.
Interventions
On participant-days assigned to this condition, participants will receive interactive CLT-concrete ('how'-based) text messages will involve asking participants questions about their alcohol use and sexual behaviors. Participants will receive 3 how-based questions related to alcohol and 3 how-based questions related to sexual behaviors (for a total of 6 questions). The messages will prompt participants to think concretely about actions and strategies related to reducing alcohol-related and sexual health risks.
On participant-days assigned to this condition, participants will receive interactive CLT-abstract ('why'-based) text messages will involve asking participants questions about their alcohol use and sexual behaviors. Participants will receive 3 why-based questions related to alcohol and 3 why-based questions related to sexual behaviors (for a total of 6 questions). The messages will prompt participants to think abstractly about their reasons, values, and broader goals related to reducing alcohol-related and sexual-health risks.
On participant-days assigned to this condition, participants will receive interactive neutral messages will follow the same structure as intervention texts (CLT-texts), daily for 8 weeks, with having an initial question with 2 follow-up questions (i.e., 3 total questions). Control texts will be neutral (e.g., fun fact). Control messages will help enhance study rigor and rule out confounding due to any potential assessment reactivity to texts.
On participant-days assigned to this condition, no afternoon intervention message will be delivered. Participants will continue to receive the regularly scheduled morning assessment. Participants in this condition will previously have received the common baseline GamePlan program, as will all other participants.
Following the baseline assessment and before beginning the 8-week text-messaging period, all participants will complete GamePlan, a brief online sexual-health program lasting approximately 15-20 minutes. GamePlan provides personalized feedback and activities intended to help participants reflect on their sexual choices and consider whether they wish to make changes. GamePlan is administered to all participants and is not a randomized intervention component in this study. Its independent effect will not be evaluated.
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if:
- Male sex at birth and currently identify with male gender
- Own and use a smartphone that can receive text messages daily
- Have tested negative for HIV in the past 24 months
- Be willing to consider a change in their drinking behavior
- Not currently in a sexually exclusive relationship
- In the past three months, the subject must have had at least 3 condomless sexual encounters with men and consumes ≥5 standard alcoholic drinks at least once a week.
You may not qualify if:
- Involved in previous Project SPACE research (i.e., members of the Phase 1 community advisory board or Phase 2 pilot tests)
- Participants that have sought treatment for substance use in the past month.
Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.
Sponsors & Collaborators
Study Sites (1)
Emory School of Medicine
Atlanta, Georgia, 30307, United States
MeSH Terms
Conditions
Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)
Study Officials
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Neo Gebru, PhD
Emory University
Central Study Contacts
Study Design
- Study Type
- interventional
- Phase
- not applicable
- Allocation
- NA
- Masking
- NONE
- Purpose
- PREVENTION
- Intervention Model
- SINGLE GROUP
- Sponsor Type
- OTHER
- Responsible Party
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
- PI Title
- Assistant Professor
Study Record Dates
First Submitted
August 13, 2026
First Posted
August 18, 2026
Study Start (Estimated)
February 1, 2027
Primary Completion (Estimated)
December 1, 2027
Study Completion (Estimated)
December 1, 2027
Last Updated
August 19, 2026
Record last verified: 2026-08
Data Sharing
- IPD Sharing
- Will share
- Shared Documents
- STUDY PROTOCOL, CSR
- Time Frame
- Final submission and release of the study data will occur within 6 months following the end of fieldwork and within the award period. Study data deposited in the NDA will be available to the research community in perpetuity.
- Access Criteria
- Given the sensitivity of the human subject behavioral data, access to data will be controlled and will be made available only after there is a demonstrated valid research need and users meet conditions of use. Public use and restricted access study data and associated documentation will be made available to the research community free of charge through the NIAAA Data Archive (NIAAADA), a data repository housed within the NIMH Data Archive (NDA). Data sets in the NDA will be findable and identifiable through a study-specific Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number.
De-identified individual participant data will be shared.