Purpose Women in alcohol treatment are more likely to relapse when in unpleasant, negative emotional states. Given the demonstrated benefits of exercise for decreasing depression, negative affect, and urges to drink, helping women engage in a lifestyle physical activity (LPA) intervention in early recovery may provide them a tool they can utilize “in the moment” in order to cope with negative emotional states and alcohol craving when relapse risk is highest. New digital fitness technologies (e.g., Fitbit activity monitor with web and mobile applications) may facilitate increases in physical activity (PA) through goal setting and self-monitoring. Method We piloted a 12-week LPA+Fitbit intervention focused on strategically using bouts of PA to cope with affect and alcohol cravings to prevent relapse in 20 depressed women (mean age=39.5 years) in alcohol treatment. Results Participants wore their Fitbit on 73% of days during the intervention period. An average of 9,174 steps/day were taken on the days the Fitbit was worn. Participants completed 4.7 of the 6 scheduled phone PA counseling sessions (78%). Among women who completed the intervention (n=15), 44% remained abstinent throughout the entire course of treatment. On average, women were abstinent on 95% of days during the 12-week intervention. Participants reported an increase in using PA to cope with either negative affect or urges to drink from baseline to end of treatment (p<.05). Further, participants reported high satisfaction with the LPA+Fitbit intervention and with the Fitbit tracker. Conclusions Further research is needed to evaluate the LPA+Fitbit intervention in a more rigorous randomized controlled trial. If the LPA+Fitbit intervention proves to be helpful during early recovery, this simple, low-cost and easily transported intervention can provide a much-needed alternate coping strategy to help reduce relapse risk among women in alcohol treatment.

Motives for alcohol use are associated with distinct antecedents and consequences.Drinking alcohol to cope with negative affect is consistently associated with the most problematic patterns of use. Interventions targeting drinking to cope are needed. This randomized controlled treatment trial evaluated the impact of a brief coping motive feedback-based intervention on motives and problematic outcomes associated with drinking. In addition, a more comprehensive model of the antecedents and consequences of drinking to cope was tested. The study randomized 170 participants to receive either a brief Standard Feedback Condition (SFC; n = 83) or a Motives Feedback Condition (MFC; n = 87) that added education and feedback on drinking to cope as well as alternate coping strategies. Significant reductions in drinking to cope with depression were greater in the MFC at the 2-month follow-up, but the intervention's effect on drinking to cope with anxiety did not reach conventional levels of statistical significance.Significant reductions in drinking and negative consequences were observed but did not differ significantly by condition. Change in coping with depression motives mediated the effect of the intervention on outcomes of drinking and negative consequences. Partial support was found for a structural model linking antecedents of use, coping motives, and consequences associated with substance use. This study is a promising new direction in motives research, providing support for brief interventions incorporating motives-related feedback and for furthering our understanding of the origins and consequences of drinking to cope with negative affect.

Motives for marijuana use are important predictors of problematic outcomes associated with marijuana use. Most measures, to date, were developed by adapting alcohol motives measures. However, the Comprehensive Marijuana Motives Questionnaire (CMMQ) was created using a bottom-up approach to evaluate twelve distinct motives for use. The CMMQ was developed and validated in a normative college population. As such, no known study has evaluated the factor structure and utility of the CMMQ in a heavy-using, high school student population. The current study utilized a sample of 252 heavy marijuana-using high school students recruited for a combination motivational enhancement/cognitive behavioral intervention. Results from baseline measures indicated that the factor structure of the CMMQ was maintained in this population. Results from multiple regression analyses revealed distinct relationships with measures of negative consequences of use, including indices of marijuana use, marijuana-related problems, self-efficacy, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. In particular, the coping motive was associated with several negative outcomes, which is consistent with previous marijuana and alcohol motives literature. Results suggest that the CMMQ may be useful in assessing marijuana motives among heavy marijuana-using adolescents.