Integrating mHealth mobile applications to reduce high risk drinking among underage students

Abstract

Objective: College students embrace mobile cell phones (MCPs) as a primary communication and entertainment device. The aim of this study was to investigate college students’ perceptions toward using mHealth technology to deliver interventions to prevent high-risk drinking and associated consequences. Design/setting: Four focus group interviews were conducted during the spring and fall of 2011 at a large public university in the southeastern United States of America (USA) to collect data on the applicability of mHealth technology to alcohol-prevention programmes. The participants were students currently enrolled in a face-to-face alcohol-prevention programme. Method: Thematic analysis of the content in the transcriptions was used to analyse the focus group responses using a codebook. Results: Four major themes emerged which were: (1) education and usability; (2) Skype capabilities; (3) enhanced social networking; and (4) use for tracking and feedback. All of the participants said they would join an alcohol-intervention programme that incorporated mHealth mobile technology as a primary mode of communication. Conclusions: The positive responses to the use of mobile applications indicate that use of interactive, real-time technology would be valuable to college students. Given the cost of face-to-face delivery of interventions, the findings are encouraging and support further exploration of the application of mHealth technology. Mobile technologies (mHealth) could provide a more effective delivery of alcohol-intervention programmes and increase the accessibility, relevance, and value of alcohol-intervention programmes.

REMIT: Development of a mHealth theory-based intervention to decrease heavy episodic drinking among college students

“…Several themes emerged from these focus groups that later guided the development of REMIT features, such as automated text messages, interactive gaming mechanisms (gamification), drink consumption tracking, and BAC calculators. Insight gathered from the focus groups also helped investigators choose heavy episodic drinking as the behavior that the intervention would aim to modify (Kazemi et al 2014). The focus group participants reported Findings in phases 1 & 2 were consistent with two recent studies that examined engagement strategies for app users including feature and content preferences Milward et al 2015).…”

“…However, empirical evidence supports the use of mobile-based interventions delivered as stand-alone interventions (Weitzel et al 2007; Agyapong et al 2012;Suffoletto et al 2012) or as an integrated component of a treatment protocol (Gonzales et al 2014;Gustafson et al 2014;Lucht et al 2014). Despite these limitations, this study provides valuable information for health practitioners looking for alternatives to costly BMIs that require resources many institutions do not have (Cowell et al 2012;Kazemi et al 2014). College students are comfortable with the use of mobile apps, and thus may be responsive to REMIT's daily self-monitoring and real-time assessment of alcohol use.…”

“…(see Kazemi et al 2014;. These groups focused on the role of heavy episodic drinking in the students' lives and to determine their interest in interventions using mHealth technology.…”

“…Furthermore, feasibility issues (e.g. staff training, face-to-face meetings with clinicians, and the costs of implementing and sustaining such an intervention) hinder widespread implementation (Cowell et al 2012;Kazemi et al 2014;Zarkin et al 2015).…”

A Systematic Review of the mHealth Interventions to Prevent Alcohol and Substance Abuse

“…Results from these studies indicate that mHealth interventions are becoming increasingly popular in a variety of health settings across diverse cultures (Buhi et al, 2013). Limited research, however, has evaluated the application of mHealth to address substance use issues in adults (Bernhardt et al, 2009; Kazemi, Cochran, Kelly, Cornelius, & Belk, 2014; Kuntsche & Robert, 2009). …”