Alcohol assessment among college students using wireless mobile technology.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Behavioral Science
• Mobile Health Technology

Background:

• Accurate measurement of college student alcohol consumption is crucial for public health interventions.
• Traditional self-report methods may have limitations in capturing daily drinking patterns.
• Wireless mobile devices offer a potential avenue for more precise and frequent data collection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the validity of the Handheld Assisted Network Diary (HAND), a mobile device-based daily diary, for measuring self-reported alcohol consumption in college students.
• To compare the efficacy of the HAND assessment with a traditional paper-and-pencil method.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving college students at a southeastern US university.
• Participants were assigned to either the HAND (n=86) or paper-and-pencil Daily Social Diary (DSD) (n=82) for 30-day daily alcohol consumption assessment.
• Data from the HAND group were compared to a Timeline Followback (TLFB) at follow-up; HAND and DSD total drinks, drinking days, and drinks per drinking day were compared using growth models.

Main Results:

• The HAND assessment demonstrated comparable alcohol use levels to the TLFB follow-up assessment.
• Controlling for baseline factors, the HAND captured similar total drinks, drinking days, and drinks per drinking day as the paper-and-pencil DSD.
• No significant differences were found in key alcohol consumption metrics between the mobile and paper-based daily diaries.

Conclusions:

• Wireless mobile devices, exemplified by the HAND, are a valid tool for daily alcohol use assessment in college students.
• Mobile health technology can reliably capture detailed patterns of alcohol consumption in this demographic.
• Findings support the integration of mobile technology in substance use research and interventions.