A Mobile Alcohol Misuse Prevention Program

Nearlyof adults report drinking alcohol at some point in their life and overreport drinking in the past yearMore importantlynearlyreport past month binge drinkingclose toreport heavy drinkingandmillion people report driving under the influence of alcoholWhile significant numbers of adults report past month risky drinkingof those who drink too much do not meet the criteria for alcohol dependenceAlcohol misuse contributes significantly to myriad health and safety risksand annually costs the United States $billionwith the vast majority of those costs borne by employersSeveral Internet based interventions designed to address excessive drinking have now been developedand a variety of studies have demonstrated the efficacy of these approachesHoweverbecause virtually all of the online alcohol misuse prevention programs developed to date highlight alcohol misuse at the outsettheir reach is limited to the self identified problem drinkers and fail to provide the larger mainstream of drinking adults with prevention messages and materialsThese mainstream drinkers are unlikely to engage with a program focusing solely on alcohol misuse because of the significant stigma associated with alcohol abuse disorderBuilding on ISA s extensive experience in the development and test of substance misuse prevention and health promotion interventionsincluding previously developed and tested video and web based interventions which circumvent the stigma associated with substance misuse by imbedding the intervention into widely accepted health promotionthe proposed project will develop and test an innovative mobile web based alcohol misuse prevention program imbedded within a larger web based workplace wellness programsuitable for access on virtually any smartphoneIOS or AndroidThe wellness program will include stress managementexercisenutrition weight managementand alcohol misuse preventionUpon entering the wellness programusers will complete an assessment of their health practices and statusincluding drinking practiceswhich will tailor the wellness program to their particular needs and preferencesPhase I will involve focus groups and the developmentusability and feasibility testing of the prototypealong with specific milestones that must be met before moving to Phase IIPhase II will involve the full development of the mobile website and tools designed for users to accessin the momentto help them change their behaviorfollowed by a randomized controlled trial with working adults to test the program effectivenessChestnut Global Partnersan international company specializing in workplace wellness and substance abuse preventionhas enthusiastically agreed to collaborate on the project to recruit workplaces and employees from among their client companies and to work with ISA s Center for Workforce Health to market the completed program