Dataset Information

Digital Therapeutic Intervention for Women in the UK Armed Forces Who Consume Alcohol at a Hazardous or Harmful Level: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Alcohol misuse is common in the United Kingdom Armed Forces (UKAF), with prevalence significantly higher than in the general population. To date, digital health initiatives to support alcohol misuse have focused on male individuals, who represent approximately 89% of the UKAF. However, female veterans drink disproportionally more than female members of the public.

Objective

This 2-arm participant-blinded (single-blinded) confirmatory randomized controlled trial (RCT) aims to assess the efficacy of a brief alcohol intervention (DrinksRation) in reducing weekly self-reported alcohol consumption between baseline and a 3-month follow-up (day 84) among women who have served in the UKAF.

Methods

In this 2-arm single-blinded RCT, a smartphone app that includes interactive user-focused features tailored toward the needs of female veterans and designed to enhance participants' motivations to reduce the amount of alcohol they consume is compared with the UK Chief Medical Officer guidance on alcohol consumption. The trial will be conducted among women who have served at least 1 day of paid service in the UKAF. Recruitment, consent, and data collection will be carried out automatically through the DrinksRation app or the BeAlcoholSmart platform. The primary outcome is change in self-reported weekly alcohol consumption between baseline (day 0) and the 3-month follow-up (day 84) measured using the Timeline Follow Back for alcohol consumption. The secondary outcome is the change in the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test score measured at baseline and 3-month follow-up between the control and intervention groups. The process evaluation measures include (1) app use and (2) usability ratings as measured by the mHealth App Usability Questionnaire.

Results

RCT recruitment will begin in January 2024 and last for 5 months. We aim to complete all data collection, including interviews, by May 2024.

Conclusions

This study will assess whether a smartphone app tailored to the needs of women who have served in the UKAF is efficacious in reducing self-reported alcohol consumption. If successful, the digital therapeutics platform could be used not only to support women who have served in the UKAF but also for other conditions and disorders.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05970484; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05970484.

International registered report identifier (irrid)

PRR1-10.2196/51531.

SUBMITTER: Williamson G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10762616 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Digital Therapeutic Intervention for Women in the UK Armed Forces Who Consume Alcohol at a Hazardous or Harmful Level: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Williamson Grace G Carr Ewan E Fear Nicola T NT Dymond Simon S King Kate K Simms Amos A Goodwin Laura L Murphy Dominic D Leightley Daniel D

JMIR research protocols 20231219

<h4>Background</h4>Alcohol misuse is common in the United Kingdom Armed Forces (UKAF), with prevalence significantly higher than in the general population. To date, digital health initiatives to support alcohol misuse have focused on male individuals, who represent approximately 89% of the UKAF. However, female veterans drink disproportionally more than female members of the public.<h4>Objective</h4>This 2-arm participant-blinded (single-blinded) confirmatory randomized controlled trial (RCT) ai ...[more]

PMID: 38113103

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Dataset Information

Digital Therapeutic Intervention for Women in the UK Armed Forces Who Consume Alcohol at a Hazardous or Harmful Level: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Trial registration

International registered report identifier (irrid)

Publications

Digital Therapeutic Intervention for Women in the UK Armed Forces Who Consume Alcohol at a Hazardous or Harmful Level: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

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