A Novel Just-in-Time Intervention for Promoting Safer Drinking Among College Students: App Testing Across 2 Independent Pre-Post Trials

TL;DR

A new smartphone app called bhoos was tested to help college students drink more safely, showing increased confidence in protective strategies and reduced alcohol consumption.

Contribution

The study introduces bhoos, a novel mobile app offering real-time feedback and education to promote safer drinking behaviors among college students.

Findings

bhoos increased students' confidence in using protective drinking strategies.

The app was associated with reduced self-reported alcohol consumption frequency.

Users found the app highly usable and engaging.

Abstract

Binge drinking, which is linked to various immediate and long-term negative outcomes, is highly prevalent among US college students. Behavioral interventions delivered via mobile phones have a strong potential to help decrease the hazardous effects of binge drinking by promoting safer drinking behaviors.

This study aims to evaluate the preliminary efficacy of bhoos, a novel smartphone app designed to promote safer drinking behaviors among US college students. The app offers on-demand educational content about safer alcohol use, provides dynamic feedback as users log their alcohol consumption, and includes an interactive drink tracker that estimates blood alcohol content in real time.

The bhoos app was tested in 2 independent pre-post studies each lasting 4 weeks, among US college students aged 18‐35 years. The primary outcome in both trials was students’ self-reported confidence in using protective behavioral strategies related to drinking, with self-reported frequency of alcohol consumption over the past month examined as a secondary outcome.

In study 1, bhoos was associated with increased confidence in using protective behavioral strategies. Students also endorsed the high usability of the app and reported acceptable levels of engagement. Study 2 replicated findings of increased confidence in using protective behavioral strategies, and demonstrated a reduction in the self-reported frequency of alcohol consumption.

Bhoos is a personalized, accessible, and highly scalable digital intervention with a strong potential to effectively address alcohol-related behaviors on college campuses.