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A Social Media Personalized Normative Feedback Intervention for Heavy Drinking College Students

Project Smash (Social Media Alcohol Session for Health)

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05608109
Acronym
SMASH
Enrollment
401
Registered
2022-11-08
Start date
2022-01-09
Completion date
2024-12-28
Last updated
2025-02-03

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Alcohol Consumption

Keywords

social media

Brief summary

This study seeks to evaluate the unique and synergistic efficacy of social media-specific personalized normative feedback targeting the reduction of alcohol use among heavy-drinking college students who post alcohol-related content on social media. Hypothesis: Alcohol personalized normative feedback, social media-specific personalized normative feedback, and the Alcohol personalized normative feedback+ social media-specific personalized normative feedback conditions will be more effective in reducing drinking than the attention control condition.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALAlcohol personalized normative feedback (APNF)

Participants will receive individualized feedback based upon their survey responses. Feedback regarding participant's drinking compared to other same-university students will include: (a) drinking days per week, (b) average drinks per occasion, (c) drinks per week, and (d) drinking percentile rank.

BEHAVIORALSocial media personalized normative feedback (SMPNF)

Participants will receive individualized feedback based upon their survey responses. Feedback regarding participant's alcohol related content posts on social media and drinking compared to other same-university students will include: (a) alcohol related posting days per week, (b) average alcohol related posting per week, (c) posting percentile rank, (d) drinking days per week, (e) average drinks per week, and (f) drinking percentile rank.

Sponsors

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
CollaboratorNIH
Duquesne University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 26 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* College students recruited across three universities: Duquesne University, Miami University, and University of Houston (DU, MU, UH) * Undergraduate college students 18 to 26 years old * Meet heavy drinking (4+ drinks in one sitting for individuals assigned female at birth, 5+ drinks in one sitting for individuals assigned male at birth in the past month) and ARC (alcohol-related content) posting criteria (2+ ARC posts in the last 30 days for individuals assigned female at birth, 1+ for individuals assigned male at birth, on either Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, or TikTok)

Exclusion criteria

* Pregnant or of another protected population

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (B-YAACQ) - change is being assessedBaseline, 3 month follow-up, 6 month follow-upThe B-YAACQ is a 24 item assessment which measures consequences in 8 domains over a given time frame. Subscales include: Social/Interpersonal, Academic/Occupational, Risky Behavior, Impaired Control, Poor Self-Care, Diminished Self-Perception, Blackout Drinking, and Physiological Dependence. Minimum value: 0; Maximum Value: 24; Higher scores indicate more alcohol-related problems.
Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) - change is being assessedBaseline, 3 month follow-up, 6 month follow-upThe AUDIT is a 10 item tool which assesses a participant's drinking habits and alcohol-related consequences. Minimum value: 0; Maximum Value: 40; Higher scores indicate worse outcomes. A score of 15 or more indicates the likelihood of alcohol dependence.
Rutgers Alcohol Problems Index (RAPI) -change is being assessedBaseline, 3 month follow-up, 6 month follow-upThe RAPI is a 25-item questionnaire that measures problem drinking. Items are rated on a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from none (0) to more than five times (4). Minimum value: 0; Maximum Value: 100; Higher scores indicate more alcohol-related problems.
Quantity/Frequency/Peak Index (QFI) -change is being assessedBaseline, 3 month follow-up, 6 month follow-upThe QFI consists of five items which assess participants' typical alcohol consumption patterns. Minimum value: 0; Maximum Value: 24; Higher scores indicate more alcohol use.
Daily Drinking Questionnaire (DDQ) -change is being assessedBaseline, 3 month follow-up, 6 month follow-upThe DDQ is a 9 item tool which assesses participants' drinking over the past 3 months. Participants report how much they drank on an average over the past 3 months by indicating the number of drinks they consumed on each day of the week. Minimum value: 0; Maximum Value: 175 (windsorized to 25 drinks per day); Higher scores indicate more alcohol use.
Drinking Norms Rating Form (DNRF) -change is being assessedBaseline, 3 month follow-up, 6 month follow-upThe DNRF is a 5 item questionnaire that assesses an individual's view on the drinking habits of other individuals attending the same university. It was adapted from the Daily Drinking Questionnaire to assess perceptions of drinking norms on campus. Minimum value: 0; Maximum Value: 175 (windsorized to 25 drinks per day); Higher scores indicate students perceive their peers to engage in more alcohol use.

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026