An interventional study of Alcohol-related mobile health technologies and Motivational interview and psychoeducation on blood/breath alcohol concentration in Alcohol Use, Alcohol Drinking and Drinking Behavior, sponsored by Northeastern University. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 25 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-05-20.
Sponsored by Northeastern University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
This is the third stage of a three-stage, NIH-funded study to develop and test a multi-modal intervention concerning blood/breath alcohol concentration for young adults who drink heavily. The multimodal intervention will be made up of brief telehealth counseling and psychoeducation and use of three existing mobile technologies. The brief counseling/psychoeducation and mobile technologies provide personalized feedback regarding blood or breath alcohol content. The long-term goal of use of these mobile technologies will be to facilitate moderate drinking. However, the main goals of the proposed research are to learn more about feasibility of our procedures, perceived value of the technologies and ease of use from the research participants' points of view. In this third stage of the study, the investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial building on the formative research conducted in Stages 1 and 2.
701 studies on the registry are indexed under Alcohol Drinking; 133 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 90 is below the median of 122 across 607 interventional studies indexed under Alcohol Drinking.
Browse Alcohol Drinking studies →Northeastern University is the lead sponsor of 55 studies on the registry; 19 are open to participants now.
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Exclusion Criteria
No subject may:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
The American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental health diagnoses. DSM-5 (2013, revised as DSM-5-TR in 2022) replaced DSM-IV, and some studies still name the older edition. “Meets DSM criteria for …” means diagnosed by that edition’s diagnostic criteria, usually by a clinician in an interview.
DSM diagnostic criteria
The American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental health diagnoses. DSM-5 (2013, revised as DSM-5-TR in 2022) replaced DSM-IV, and some studies still name the older edition. “Meets DSM criteria for …” means diagnosed by that edition’s diagnostic criteria, usually by a clinician in an interview.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Brief motivational-interviewing-based counseling followed by use of three moderate drinking technologies (breath alcohol device and app, blood alcohol content estimator app and self-texting procedure) with "lower tech" facilitation.
Device: Alcohol-related mobile health technologies · Behavioral: Motivational interview and psychoeducation on blood/breath alcohol concentration · Behavioral: Lower tech facilitation
Brief motivational-interviewing-based counseling followed by use of three moderate drinking technologies (breath alcohol device and app, blood alcohol content estimator app and self-texting procedure) with "higher tech" facilitation
Device: Alcohol-related mobile health technologies · Behavioral: Motivational interview and psychoeducation on blood/breath alcohol concentration · Behavioral: Higher tech facilitation
Brief session administering non-personalized information about alcohol followed by the option to receive educational alcohol-related information via text
Behavioral: Alcohol Education · Device: Alcohol Education Technology
Participants will be asked to use the mobile technologies as they choose while drinking for a four-week period.
Also known as: Smartphone Breathalyzer, BAC Estimator App, Self-Texting App
Brief 25/30-minute motivational interview and psychoeducation on blood/breath alcohol concentration that includes both personalized and standardized information.
Also known as: M.I.
Study staff will review instructions for technology use closely with participants and guide them in use of existing phone technologies as reminders for use of the three moderate drinking technologies during drinking situations.
Participants will use an app developed during the study, SmartSip, that will provide protective behavioral strategies and reminders for use of the three moderate drinking technologies during drinking situations.
Also known as: SmartSip
Brief 25/30-minute psychoeducation on generalized alcohol use providing information about alcohol and its effects, adapted from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Rethinking Drinking resources
Participants will be able to prompt text messages which will provide them one-off trivia facts using information provided during the attention control psychoeducation session
Technology utilization
Percentage of reported drinking days on which one reports that moderate drinking technology use has occurred
Time frame: 4-week field use period
Acceptability
Score on acceptability subscale of Modified System Usability Scale
Time frame: 4-week field use period
Usability
Score on acceptability subscale of Modified System Usability Scale
Time frame: 4-week field use period
Drinks per drinking day
Number of drinks per day during field testing period
Time frame: 4-week field use period
Estimated blood alcohol content
Average estimated blood alcohol content reached on drinking days
Time frame: 4-week field use period
Negative Consequences
Score on the Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire
Time frame: 4-week field use period
Plan to share: Yes — Study materials and datasets with identifiers removed will be shared with other investigators upon request
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Informed consent form, Clinical study report, Analytic code
Time frame: Study materials are available to qualified investigators at any time upon request. Datasets with identifiers removed will be available after publication of the main outcome paper from the study
Access criteria: Any qualified investigator upon request
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
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