NCT02895984

Reducing Hazardous Alcohol Use in Social Networks Using Targeted Intervention

Completed NA Last updated 2 August 2019

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Single-session alcohol intervention (BMI) in Alcohol Consumption in 1,424 participants. Completed in 31 October 2017.

Timeline

1 August 2016

Primary endpoint
31 October 2017

31 October 2017

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Brown University
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	single
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	1,424
Start date	1 August 2016
Primary completion	31 October 2017
Estimated completion	31 October 2017

Drugs / interventions tested

• Single-session alcohol intervention (BMI)

Conditions studied

• Alcohol Consumption — all drugs for Alcohol Consumption →
• Alcohol Abuse — all drugs for Alcohol Abuse →

Sponsor

Brown University

Who can join

Eligibility, any sex, with Alcohol Consumption or Alcohol Abuse. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Alcohol use is almost ubiquitous on college campuses and first-year students are at particularly high risk of alcohol-related harm when they first make the transition to college. Peers are important agents in socializing both healthy and unhealthy behaviors, but despite the clear role of peer behavior in the maintenance of college problem drinking, there have been no efforts to measure the effect of individual change on the reduction of alcohol-related risks in the broader student body. That is, despite the importance of social connections for inducing and maintaining alcohol use in youth, intervention approaches have not measured nor capitalized on the potential of social influences for changing this problem behavior. It is essential that we understand the indirect effects of individual interventions and the impact such interventions have on the social structure and social connections. The best way to evaluate such effects is to use a research design that experimentally manipulates drinking using the best available intervention and measures its effects on the social network and its members.

The purpose of this research is to investigate whether using an established individual Brief Motivational Intervention (BMI) administered to a small number of influential network members embedded in a social network significantly reduces heavy drinking and alcohol consequences among close peers who do not receive any intervention. In addition, the investigators will investigate social influence mechanisms of this transmitted effect, investigate how specific types of network connections and relationships moderate the indirect intervention effect, and investigate the effects of the intervention on network position and structure. First-year students at Brown will be enrolled and assessed early in their fall 2016 academic semester. Heavy drinkers in each dormitory who are in the top quartile of betweenness centrality, a social network construct that reflects high connectivity and potential influence, will either receive BMI or serve as controls, according to their dormitory's intervention assignment. All participants will be assessed again 5 and 12 months after baseline to measure changes in behavior and in peer ties. The long-term objective of this research is to understand how peer influences function in social networks in order to leverage those mechanisms to reduce problematic alcohol use in heavy drinking populations.

Publications & conference data

5 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Poor mental health, peer drinking norms, and alcohol risk in a social network of first-year college students.
   Kenney SR, DiGuiseppi GT, Meisel MK, Balestrieri SG, et al · · 2018 · cited 43× · PMID 29684764 · DOI 10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.04.012
2. Relationships between social network characteristics, alcohol use, and alcohol-related consequences in a large network of first-year college students: How do peer drinking norms fit in?
   DiGuiseppi GT, Meisel MK, Balestrieri SG, Ott MQ, et al · · 2018 · cited 27× · PMID 30265059 · DOI 10.1037/adb0000402
3. Enrollment and assessment of a first-year college class social network for a controlled trial of the indirect effect of a brief motivational intervention.
   Barnett NP, Clark MA, Kenney SR, DiGuiseppi G, et al · · 2019 · cited 13× · PMID 30391343 · DOI 10.1016/j.cct.2018.10.015
4. Dynamic social network analysis of a brief alcohol intervention trial in heavy-drinking college students shows spillover effects.
   Barnett NP, Light JM, Clark MA, Ott MQ, et al · · 2024 · cited 1× · PMID 38240663 · DOI 10.1111/acer.15237
5. Social Networks and Sexual and Gender Minority Disparities in Alcohol Use and Consequences Among First-Year College Students.
   Ott MQ, Clark MA, Balestrieri SG, Gamarel KE, et al · · 2022 · cited 1× · PMID 35727117 · DOI 10.1089/lgbt.2019.0225