Development of a Secondary Prevention Smartphone App for Students With Unhealthy Alcohol Use: Results From a Qualitative Assessment

Abstract

Background Despite considerable efforts devoted to the development of prevention interventions aiming at reducing unhealthy alcohol use in tertiary students, their delivery remains often challenging. Interventions including information technology are promising given their potential to reach large parts of the population. Objective This study aims to develop a secondary prevention smartphone app with an iterative qualitative design involving the target population. Methods The app development process included testing a first prototype and a second prototype, developed based on the results of 2 consecutive qualitative assessments. Participants (aged ≥18 years, screened positive for unhealthy alcohol use) were students from 4 tertiary education institutions in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Participants tested prototype 1 or prototype 2 or both and provided feedback in 1-to-1 semistructured interviews after 2-3 weeks of testing. Results The mean age of the participants was 23.3 years. A total of 9 students (4/9 female) tested prototype 1 and participated in qualitative interviews. A total of 11 students (6/11 female) tested prototype 2 (6 who tested prototype 1 and 5 new) and participated in semistructured interviews. Content analysis identified 6 main themes: “General Acceptance of the App,” “Importance of the Targeted and Relevant App Content,” “Importance of Credibility,” “Importance of the App Usability,” “Importance of a Simple and Attractive Design,” “Importance of Notifications to Ensure App Use over Time.” Besides a general acceptance of the app, these themes reflected participants’ recommendations toward increased usability; to improve the design; to include useful and rewarding contents; to make the app look serious and credible; and to add notifications to ensure its use over time. A total of 11 students tested prototype 2 (6 who tested prototype 1 and 5 new) and participated in semistructured interviews. The 6 same themes emerged from the analysis. Participants from phase 1 generally found the design and content of the app improved. Conclusions Students recommend prevention smartphone apps to be easy to use, useful, rewarding, serious, and credible. These findings may be important to consider when developing prevention smartphone apps to increase the likelihood of app use over time. Trial Registration ISRCTN registry 10007691; https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN10007691 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) RR2-10.1186/s13063-020-4145-2

Effect of a smartphone intervention as a secondary prevention for use among university students with unhealthy alcohol use: randomised controlled trial

“…The theoretical bases for the app involved norms perception and risk perception 37. The app’s development, content, and theoretical underpinnings have been presented in detail elsewhere 3741. The app comprised six modules (table 1).…”

“…Students with unhealthy alcohol use were involved in developing the app41 and reviewed the study questionnaire. The app was updated from a previous version 4243…”

“… 38 The app’s development, content, and theoretical underpinnings have been presented in detail elsewhere. 38 42 The app comprised six modules ( table 1 ).…”

Randomized controlled trial of a smartphone app designed to reduce unhealthy alcohol consumption

“…Participants assigned to the intervention group were provided with the full smartphone app. Details of the content and theoretical basis for each module are provided elsewhere ( Bertholet et al, 2023a ). For the current study, the app was modified to apply to the Canadian context (e.g., standard drink size in Canada of 13.6 g of alcohol).…”

“…A recent randomized trial conducted by Bertholet et al, 2023a , Bertholet et al, 2023b did find evidence for the effectiveness of an app in university students. As the app may also have utility outside of the college environment, the present study tested the effectiveness in a sample of people with unhealthy alcohol use recruited from the general public.…”