Nurse-led Alcohol Brief Intervention Plus Mobile Personalized Chat-based Support on Reducing Alcohol Use in University Students

Summary

This study aims to assess the effect of personalized support using instant messaging application on alcohol drinking reduction in university students proactively recruited from universities in Hong Kong.

Conditions

• Alcohol Misuse

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Alcohol brief intervention

At baseline, subjects will receive face-to-face or online alcohol brief intervention developed based on the guideline by the World Health Organisation in 5-10 minutes

BEHAVIORAL

12-page health warning leaflet

Nurses will provide information about the consequences of drinking using a 12-page health warning booklet. Benefits of reducing and quit drinking will be emphasized by focusing on improving their perception towards the impacts on health, social problems, risky behaviors, academic performance and financial issues.

BEHAVIORAL

Regular messages through Instant Messaging (IM)

A total of 26 e-messages will be scheduled: once daily for the first week, 3 time/week for subsequent 4 weeks and 1 time/week for the remaining 7 weeks. The frequency will be adjusted according to IM Apps conversation and subject's requests.

BEHAVIORAL

Real-time chat-based support through IM Apps

The chat-based IM support is the extension of baseline ABI and regular e-messages, which aims to provide real-time behavioral and psychosocial support to reduce or quit drinking. It will be personalized according to the subjects' characteristics (gender, drinking pattern and alcoholic drinks preferences), intention to drink and specific questions regarding drinking. Through real-time chatting (text and/or voice), drinkers can acquire information on consequences of drinking and gain social support immediately to reduce intention to drink and alcohol consumption.

BEHAVIORAL

General health through SMS

After baseline, they will receive regular e-message through SMS with similar frequency to Intervention group with content on general health and the reminding the importance of participating in the follow-up surveys.

BEHAVIORAL

AUDIT score interpretation sheet adapted from the Department of Health of Hong Kong

a diagram explaining drinking behaviour and potential health risks, definitions of "alcohol unit" and "binge drinking", and advise on limiting daily drinking to 2 alcohol units for men and 1 unit for women

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The University of Hong Kong

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-09-30

Primary Completion

2022-09-30

Completion

2022-11-30

Countries

• Hong Kong

Study Locations