Evaluating the effectiveness of an alcohol reduction smartphone app, Drink Less, compared with the NHS alcohol advice webpage, at reducing alcohol consumption among hazardous and harmful drinkers in the UK at 6-month follow up: a randomised controlled trial
Hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption
Current intervention as of 27/05/2022: Participants who complete the baseline assessment will be randomised individually to intervention and control groups using block randomisation (block size of 50) and a random allocation sequence generated by an online automated algorithm (at a ratio of 1:1). The intervention is the recommendation to use the Drink Less app. Drink Less is a stand-alone smartphone app-based intervention that is freely available via the Apple app store in the UK. Drink Less is for hazardous and harmful drinkers to help them reduce their alcohol consumption. Drink Less consists of seven evidence-based modules to help users change their drinking behaviour: Goal Setting; Self-monitoring & Feedback; Action Planning; Normative Feedback, Cognitive Bias Re-training, Behavioural Substitution and Information about Antecedents. The app contains standard features such as information about the UK drinking guidelines. On downloading the app, users are asked to complete the AUDIT, provide socio-demographic details and then receive the personalised Normative Feedback module. At this point, users reach the dashboard where there is an optional tutorial to take them through the app. Users can access all of the app modules from the dashboard and the menu bar. The dashboard (the landing page of the app) has suggestions for the user to complete each day, as well as features of and links to the modules. Users can choose to have daily reminders to complete their drinks and mood diary for the previous day. The app provides a ‘toolbox’ of features for users to choose from and access as and when they want. The app is not tailored to the user except for personalised feedback in two modules: Normative Feedback and Self-monitoring & Feedback. Any modifications to the app during the trial (e.g. bug fixes) will be documented and reported. The control is the recommendation to view the alcohol advice NHS webpage ‘Tips for cutting down’. The NHS webpage also has links to other w
Participants will be included if they: 1. Are aged 18 years or over 2. Live in the UK 3. Are hazardous and harmful drinkers (AUDIT score>=8) 4. Have access to an iOS device (i.e. iPhone, iPod touch or iPad) 5. Want to drink less alcohol
Participants will be excluded if they are unwilling to complete follow-up assessments or unable to read English (for pragmatic reasons)