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

NCT ID: NCT04025151

Last Updated: 2021-09-13

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

UNKNOWN

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

770 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2020-09-30

Study Completion Date

2022-11-30

Brief Summary

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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.

Detailed Description

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The government has promoted Hong Kong as the Asian's wine hub with zero alcohol tax (ethanol ≤30%) since 2008, which causes dramatic increases in alcohol drinking and binge drinking rates. Alcohol use in youth is the leading cause of disability adjusted life-years loss. Most adult drinkers start drinking at age 18-21. Evidence shows that alcohol brief intervention (ABI) is effective reducing hazardous and harmful alcohol use in university students. The proposed trial aims to enhance the ABI by incorporating information communication technologies (ICTs) such as instant messaging (IM) Apps (e.g. WhatsApp and WeChat) to provide personalized, real-time chat-based support led by nurses. The aims of study are as follows:

1. To determine the main effect of the Intervention vs. Control group on alcohol consumption per week at 6-month (Primary)
2. To assess the effects on alcohol consumption per week at 12-month, AUDIT scores at 6 and 12-month, perceived usefulness of IM app at 12-month, intention to use IM app to reduce/quit drinking at 12-month, number of standard drinks, episode of binge drinking, episode of heavy drinking, planned drinking, Academic Role Expectation and Alcohol Scale, Alcohol Problems Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire 4-item, Perceived Stress Scale 4-item, Covid-19 related drinking behavioral changes, and self-efficacy to reduce/quit drinking at 6-month and 12-month
3. To identify mediators between intervention and outcomes to inform the potential mechanisms
4. To qualitatively explore experience on the interventions for reducing alcohol use and related harms

Conditions

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Alcohol Misuse

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

TRIPLE

Participants Investigators Outcome Assessors

Study Groups

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Intervention group

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

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Alcohol brief intervention

Intervention Type 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

12-page health warning leaflet

Intervention Type 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.

Regular messages through Instant Messaging (IM)

Intervention Type 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.

Real-time chat-based support through IM Apps

Intervention Type 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.

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

Intervention Type 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

control group

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

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Alcohol brief intervention

Intervention Type 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

12-page health warning leaflet

Intervention Type 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.

General health through SMS

Intervention Type 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.

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

Intervention Type 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

Interventions

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Alcohol brief intervention

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 Type BEHAVIORAL

12-page health warning leaflet

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 Type BEHAVIORAL

Regular messages through Instant Messaging (IM)

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 Type BEHAVIORAL

Real-time chat-based support through IM Apps

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 Type BEHAVIORAL

General health through SMS

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.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

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

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 Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* 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

Exclusion Criteria

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

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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The University of Hong Kong

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Dr. Wang Man-Ping

Associate Professor

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

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School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong, , Hong Kong

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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Hong Kong

Central Contacts

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Siu Long Chau, PhD

Role: CONTACT

+852-39176981

Facility Contacts

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Siu Long Chau, PhD

Role: primary

+852-39176981

References

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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.

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Other Identifiers

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Chat-based ABI (UniStudents)

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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