JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Alcohol misuse is highly prevalent in the U.S. and results in a great financial and public health burden. Current alcohol reduction treatments are underutilized and there is a critical need for innovation in the field. Transdermal alcohol biosensors measure alcohol use passively and continuously and may be helpful tools in alcohol interventions. To date, however, alcohol biosensors have not been widely used to directly intervene on alcohol use. There is a new wrist-worn biosensor that could be used to help people reduce their drinking, though it is unclear how to best incorporate such a device into an alcohol intervention.

Objective:

We aimed to identify desired features that would be acceptable and helpful in a wrist-worn biosensor-based alcohol intervention for adults with heavy drinking.

Methods:

Participants were recruited through an alcohol contingency management (CM) study; a contact registry; and participant referral. To qualify, participants had to be at least 40 years old; report drinking at least twice per week and indicate interest in reducing their drinking. We conducted a semi-structured interview with each participant via Zoom. The interview guide addressed general thoughts on the wrist-worn biosensor; how participants thought a wrist-worn biosensor could be used to help people quit or reduce drinking; types of information participants would want to receive from the sensor; how they would want to receive that information; and how they thought this information could be used to change their behavior. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results:

The sample was comprised of 20 adults (Mage=55.1, SDage=6.1, 55% women, 85% Black). Nine (45%) participants had previous experience with the SCRAM CAM ankle biosensor from participating in an alcohol CM study. The desirable features could be grouped into five main themes, including 1) Features that would influence willingness (the biosensor should look nice, be comfortable, and be accessible); 2) Personalized messaging (personalized biosensor-based prompts and feedback could be helpful); 3) Preference for time wearing the biosensor (for some, just wearing the biosensor could have an intervention effect); 4) Sharing data with others (this was appealing to many but not all); 5) Mental health support (many felt that mental health support could be incorporated with the biosensor).

Conclusions:

Five main themes that would maximize desire to use a wrist-worn biosensor for alcohol intervention were identified. Taken together, the identified themes could inform a just-in-time adaptive intervention that uses a wrist-worn biosensor to help persons with heavy drinking reduce their alcohol use.