Personalized Digital Interventions Showed no Impact on Risky Drinking in Young Adults: A Pilot Randomized Controlled...

Area of Science:

• Digital health interventions
• Alcohol consumption research
• Behavioral science

Background:

• Personalized digital interventions show promise for behavior change.
• Assessing the efficacy of digital tools for reducing alcohol consumption is crucial.
• Existing digital interventions include Drinks Meter and OneTooMany.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of two personalized digital interventions, OneTooMany and Drinks Meter, against control groups.
• To compare primary outcomes including AUDIT-C scores, drinking-related harms, and pre-loading behaviors.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving 402 participants aged 18-30.
• Participants were allocated to either the Drinks Meter, OneTooMany, or control groups.
• Follow-up assessments occurred 4 weeks post-intervention, measuring AUDIT-C, harms, and pre-loading.

Main Results:

• The study lacked sufficient power due to recruitment and follow-up issues.
• No statistically significant differences were observed in AUDIT-C, pre-loading, or harms between intervention and control groups for either Drinks Meter or OneTooMany.
• Specific IRR values for Drinks Meter and OneTooMany showed no clear efficacy signal.

Conclusions:

• Further research is required to determine the efficacy of digital alcohol interventions and their specific components.
• Recruitment and participant retention pose significant challenges for digital health intervention studies.
• The effectiveness of OneTooMany and Drinks Meter in reducing alcohol consumption remains undetermined.