JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Young adult veterans who served after the September 11th attacks on the United States in 2001 (i.e., post-9/11) are at heightened risk for experiencing behavioral health distress and disorders, including hazardous drinking, PTSD, and depression. These veterans often face significant barriers to behavioral health treatment, and reaching them through brief mobile phone-based interventions could help reduce drinking and promote treatment engagement.

Objective:

Following a successful pilot study, this randomized controlled trial (RCT) aims to further test the efficacy of a brief (i.e., single session) mobile phone-delivered personalized normative feedback (PNF) intervention enhanced with content to promote treatment engagement.

Methods:

We will conduct an RCT with 800 post-9/11 young adult veterans (aged 18 to 40) with potentially hazardous drinking and who have not recently received treatment for any behavioral health problems. Participants will be randomly assigned to the personalized intervention or a control condition with resources for seeking care. The PNF module in the intervention focuses on correction of misperceived norms of peer alcohol use and utilizes empirically informed approaches to increase motivation to address alcohol use and co-occurring behavioral health problems.

Results:

Drinking, alcohol-related consequences, and treatment-seeking behaviors will be assessed at baseline and 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-months post-intervention. Sex, barriers to care, PTSD, depression, and severity of alcohol use disorder symptoms will be explored as potential moderators of outcomes.

Conclusions:

This RCT will evaluate the efficacy of a novel intervention for non-treatment-seeking veterans who struggle with hazardous drinking and possible co-occurring behavioral health problems. This intervention has the potential to improve veteran health outcomes and overcome significant barriers to treatment. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT04244461