Alcohol Drinking
Conditions
Brief summary
This study tests the effects of a self-affirmation manipulation on (i) acceptance of a health message detailing the risks of alcohol consumption, (ii) engagement with the health message and (iii) alcohol consumption at 7-day follow-up. Half of the participants complete a self-affirmation manipulation, where they reflect on their most important values, whereas the other half complete a control equivalent, where they reflect on their least important values. Immediately post-intervention, all participants then receive information about the risks of alcohol consumption and complete measures of message acceptance and engagement with the materials. Seven days after intervention, participants self-report their alcohol consumption in the previous 7 days.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALSelf-affirmation manipulation task
Participants in the self-affirmation condition indicate their most important value, give three examples of why this value is important to them and one example of something they had done to demonstrate its importance.
BEHAVIORALControl task
People in the control condition indicate their least important value, three examples of why that value could be important to someone else, and describe something that person could do to show its importance.
Sponsors
Economic and Social Research Council, United Kingdom
University of Sussex
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
FEMALE
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Female * Drinkers
Exclusion criteria
* Male * Non-drinkers
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol consumption 7 days after intervention | 7 days after intervention | Seven days after the intervention, participants are contacted and asked to report their alcohol consumption over the previous 7-day period via self-report items. Participants report the type of alcohol (e.g., beer, spirit), type of container (e.g., small glass, pint, single measure) and the number of each type of drink they had consumed on each day over the previous 7 days using the adapted version (Armitage, Harris, & Arden, 2011) of the timeline fallback technique (Sobell & Sobell, 1992). The total number of units consumed by each participant was then calculated using the UK NHS alcohol unit calculator (NHS Choices, 2013: www.nhs.uk/tools/pages/alcohol-unit-calculator.aspx). |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Effect of intervention on acceptance of health information | Immediately after intervention | Measures to assess whether the intervention affected the extent to which people accepted information about the risks of alcohol consumption were taken immediately after the intervention via self-report items. Acceptance items included personal relevance, negative affect, attitudes, anticipated regret and intentions. Responses to items were given on 7-point scales with relevant anchors (e.g. strongly disagree \[1\] to strongly agree \[7\]). A mean score was calculated for each participant on each measure, with higher scores indicating greater levels of that construct. |
| Effect of intervention on engagement with health information | Immediately after intervention | Measures to assess whether the intervention affected the extent to which people engaged with the information were taken immediately after the intervention via self-report items. Engagement items included perspective taking, attention, emotion and visualization. Responses to items were given on 7-point scales with relevant anchors (e.g. strongly disagree \[1\] to strongly agree \[7\]). A mean score was calculated for each participant on each measure, with higher scores indicating greater levels of that construct. |
Countries
United Kingdom
Outcome results
None listed