Clinical Research Directory

Integrative Alcohol and Risky Sex Feedback for College Students

Alcohol misuse and related risky sexual behaviors are significant health concerns for college students. Two-thirds of students are current drinkers, at least 1 in 3 report past month heavy episodic drinking (5+ drinks in a row), and 1 in 10 report high intensity drinking (10+ drinks in a row). Increased student alcohol use and heavy drinking are linked to increased sexual activity and related risky behaviors (e.g., unprotected sex, sex with casual partners). This puts students at risk for negative health outcomes (e.g., STIs - sexually transmitted infections) and is also a pathway to sexual victimization and escalated drinking. The first few weeks of college, known as the 'red zone,' provide an opportunity to intervene at time when these behaviors increase. However, most prevention programs for college students tend to focus on student alcohol use and have little to no integration of content on the relationship between alcohol use and risky sexual behaviors. This is an important gap in the literature and a priority area for NIAAA. The research team established the short-term efficacy of a personalized feedback intervention (PFI), a gold standard intervention approach, with integrated content on alcohol and risky sexual behaviors. In this study, we propose to extend our integrated PFI to include a cross-tailored dynamic feedback (CDF) component. The CDF component will use technology to incorporate daily assessments of student behavior and provide students with dynamic weekly feedback over 12 weeks. The goal is to increase the effectiveness of the integrated PFI and to create a program that is easily implemented on college campuses.

Promoting Maintenance of Change Following Brief Intervention for Alcohol Use

All students who enroll in the study will receive an efficacious counselor-delivered brief motivational intervention. The intervention is based in principles of motivational interviewing. Students complete a baseline assessment on their alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences. During the hour-long session, the counselor uses information from the baseline assessment to compare the student's level of alcohol consumption to that of peers at the same university, discuss choices that may lead to experiencing negative consequences, and provide opportunities for the student to set goals for risk reduction. This study will develop and pilot a maintenance enhancement intervention. The intervention is expected to consist of four components, for example: (1) Student participants may learn to use techniques based in mindfulness to cope with negative emotions. (2) Student participants may identify barriers to reducing their alcohol use and identify protective strategies for navigating those barriers. (3) Student participants may be presented with narratives from other students who successfully resumed moderate drinking after a heavy drinking episode. Students may also be prompted to identify alcohol free activities that they enjoy and can engage in after experiencing a heavy drinking episode. (4) Parents may also receive a handbook encouraging communication with their student about alcohol use.

Alcohol-focused Support of Survivors in Sororities Training (ASSIST) - Pilot

The goal of this clinical trial is to conduct a preliminary evaluation of the ASSIST (Alcohol-focused Support of Survivors in Sororities Training) intervention in sorority chapters. ASSIST is a newly developed web-based intervention to increase peer support of sexual assault survivors and reduce encouragement of drinking to cope within social networks of sororities. To test whether the intervention is feasible and shows preliminary signs of working, a pilot cluster randomized trial will be conducted. Sorority chapters will be recruited and randomly assigned to an intervention condition or an assessment-only condition. Individuals within each sorority will be recruited and complete a norm documentation survey. One month later, participants will complete a baseline survey, and if assigned to the intervention condition, will then receive the web-based ASSIST intervention, which will include normative feedback on values and drinking, psychoeducation about sexual assault recovery and the role of alcohol, and skills training in behaviors that can be used to support survivors without or while moderating heavy drinking. All participants will complete online follow-up surveys at 1-, 3-, and 6-months post-intervention.