Young adults who drink heavily reported that a specific intervention that provides personalized feedback on daily drinking would be beneficial for people who want to reduce their drinking and would encourage self-reflection among those who are not yet ready to change their drinking habits. The young adults were participants in a pilot study of a first-of-its-kind technology aimed at reducing heavy drinking in young adults through self-selected goal setting and daily personalized feedback based on self-reported behaviors related to drinking. The study is published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research .
This second open trial pilot study of the intervention, called "A-FRAME" (Alcohol Feedback, Reflection, and Morning Evaluation), tested the feasibility and acceptability of new components and elicited more feedback on the tool. "A-FRAME" study participants received a text each morning with a link to a web-based survey, where they answered questions about their drinking and related behaviors, such as whether they took shots, played drinking games, or used cannabis. They were also asked to rate any negative consequences they experienced due to their drinking, such as injury, embarrassment, hangover, aggression, or nausea.
Participants could choose to receive daily and biweekly feedback about their blood- alcohol content, how their behavior compares to national norms, the calories they consumed while drinking, how much money they spent on alcohol, their high-risk behavior.