JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Binge drinking, which is linked to various immediate and long-term negative outcomes, is highly prevalent among U.S. college students. Behavioral interventions delivered via mobile phones has strong potential to help decrease the hazardous effects of binge drinking by promoting safer drinking behaviors.

Objective:

To evaluate the preliminary efficacy of bhoos, a novel smartphone app designed to promote safer drinking behaviors among U.S. college students. The app offers on-demand educational content about safer alcohol use, provides dynamic feedback as users log their alcohol consumption, and includes an interactive drink tracker that estimates blood alcohol content in real-time.

Methods:

The bhoos app was tested in two independent pre-post studies each lasting four weeks, among U.S. college students aged 18-35. The primary outcome in both trials was the self-reported use of protective behavioral strategies related to drinking, with self-reported frequency of alcohol consumption over the past month examined as a secondary outcome.

Results:

In Study 1, bhoos was associated with increased implementation of protective behavioral strategies. Students also endorsed high usability of the app and reported acceptable levels of engagement. Study 2 replicated findings of increased implementation of protective behavioral strategies, and demonstrated a reduction in the self-reported frequency of alcohol consumption.

Conclusions:

bhoos is a personalized, accessible, and highly scalable digital intervention with strong potential to effectively address alcohol-related behaviors on U.S. college campuses.