Perceived Alcohol Rewards and Risks Study

Summary

The identification of mechanisms that underlie how people reduce or eliminate alcohol use is a critical public health issue. Understanding these mechanisms can inform how to effectively intervene with problem drinkers. Thus far it has been a challenge for the alcohol research field to find consistent empirical evidence in support of candidate mechanisms of behavior change. Scientific advancement in this area may be aided by longitudinal transdisciplinary research on the interplay between behavioral intervention, cognition, and brain activity to understand underlying processes of behavior change among heavy drinkers. This study employed a randomized 2-arm repeated measures design with a sample of non-treatment seeking adult heavy drinkers to examine changes in perceived reward value and risks of alcohol use as a mechanism of alcohol behavior change after a brief behavioral intervention. Participants were randomized to either a 1-session behavioral intervention or to an attention-matched control condition and immediately after completed an fMRI scan. The focus of this project is to examine if group differences in perceived alcohol reward value after the intervention mediates an intervention effect on reducing alcohol use in the 1 month following the intervention.

Conditions

• Heavy Drinking

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Brief Alcohol Intervention

Brief alcohol intervention uses a motivational interviewing approach and covers the following components: giving information about the possible health risks associated with alcohol use, placing the responsibility for change on the individual, discussing the reasons for drinking and downsides of drinking, and setting a goal and change plan if the participant is receptive.

BEHAVIORAL

Control Condition

The attention-matched control condition consisting of a 30-min video about astronomy.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

  collaborator NIH

• University of California, Los Angeles

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Lara A Ray, PhD · University of California, Los Angeles

• Mitchell P Karno, PhD · University of California, Los Angeles

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

21 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2015-11-13

Primary Completion

2017-04-05

Completion

2017-04-05