Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Aug 6, 2021
Open Peer Review Period: Aug 6, 2021 - Oct 1, 2021
Date Accepted: Jan 14, 2022
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Think-aloud testing of a novel safer drinking app for college students during COVID-19: Usability Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Hazardous alcohol consumption, and binge drinking in particular, continues to be common among college students, posing the greatestrisk for their health and safety. Despite widespread exposure to evidence-based preventive interventions among U.S. undergraduates, only modest and temporary effects on risky drinking occur. Formative studies have demonstrated that students want a more engaging intervention tool for risky drinking that can be used “just in time.”
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to test the appeal, relevance, and perceived utility of a draft mobile app for safer student drinking.
Methods:
Undergraduate student participants tested the draft mobile app via an interactive online prototype with hot spots that responded to their taps to mimic app functionality. They narrated their impressions, navigation, and comments in a standardized Think-Aloud procedure. After each round of Think-aloud interviews, researchers debriefed the investigators and developers to discuss findings and brainstorm app modifications.
Results:
Data indicated that minor changes to the functionality and aesthetics would improve usability of the app. Student testers recommended tailoring the app to the needs of college students and to aspects of the local university’s drinking culture.
Conclusions:
Findings from this study will be synthesized with information gained from other formative work to determine the final app features. We will test the app in a pilot randomized trial to assess app usage and the impact of the app on college student drinking behavior over several months.
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.