Reducing Alcohol Misuse and Promoting Treatment Initiation Among Veterans Through a Brief Internet-Based Intervention: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

TL;DR

This study tests a mobile-based intervention to reduce alcohol misuse and encourage treatment among young veterans.

Contribution

A novel brief mobile intervention is tested to address alcohol misuse and promote treatment engagement in post-9/11 veterans.

Findings

The intervention aims to correct misperceived alcohol norms and increase motivation for addressing alcohol use.

Outcomes will be assessed over 12 months to evaluate the intervention's efficacy in reducing drinking and promoting treatment.

Sex, barriers to care, and mental health symptoms will be explored as potential outcome moderators.

Abstract

Young adult veterans who served after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 (ie, post-9/11) are at heightened risk for experiencing behavioral health distress and disorders including hazardous drinking, posttraumatic stress disorder, and depression. These veterans often face significant barriers to behavioral health treatment, and reaching them through brief mobile phone–based interventions may help reduce drinking and promote treatment engagement.

Following a successful pilot study, this randomized controlled trial (RCT) aims to further test the efficacy of a brief (ie, single session) mobile phone–delivered personalized normative feedback intervention enhanced with content to promote treatment engagement.

We will conduct an RCT with 800 post-9/11 young adult veterans (aged 18 to 40 years) with potentially hazardous drinking and who have not recently received treatment for any behavioral health problems. Participants will be randomly assigned to the personalized intervention or a control condition with resources for seeking care. The personalized normative feedback module in the intervention focuses on the correction of misperceived norms of peer alcohol use and uses empirically informed approaches to increase motivation to address alcohol use and co-occurring behavioral health problems. Past 30-day drinking, alcohol-related consequences, and treatment-seeking behaviors will be assessed at baseline and 3, 6, 9, and 12 months post intervention. Sex, barriers to care, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and severity of alcohol use disorder symptoms will be explored as potential moderators of outcomes.

We expect recruitment to be completed within 6 months, with data collection taking 12 months for each enrolled participant. Analyses will begin within 3 months of the final data collection point (ie, 12 months follow-up).

This RCT will evaluate the efficacy of a novel intervention for non–treatment-seeking veterans who struggle with hazardous drinking and possible co-occurring behavioral health problems. This intervention has the potential to improve veteran health outcomes and overcome significant barriers to treatment.

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04244461; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04244461

DERR1-10.2196/59993

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