Text messaging interventions for reducing alcohol consumption among risky drinkers: systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract

Background and Aims The global growth of mobile phone use has led to new opportunities for health interventions, including through text messaging. We aimed to estimate the effects of text messaging interventions on alcohol consumption among risky drinkers. Methods Systematic review and meta‐analysis of reports on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in English. Searches were conducted on 23 May 2019 in PubMed; PubMed Central; CENTRAL; CDSR; DARE; NHS‐EED; Scopus; PsycINFO; PsycARTICLES; CINAHL; and Web of Science. Measurements included number of episodes of heavy drinking (HED) per month and weekly alcohol consumption (WAC) in grams. Trials among risky drinkers who were not receiving co‐interventions were included in the review (n = 3481, mean age 29 years, 41% female). Data were extracted from reports and authors were contacted for additional data. Results Ten trials were included and all analyses were based on random‐effects models. Primary analyses, including seven trials (n = 2528) for HED and five trials (n = 2236) for WAC, found that the interventions may reduce self‐reported HED [−0.33 episodes per month; 95% confidence interval (CI) = −0.79, 0.12] and WAC (−18.62 g per week; 95% CI = −39.61, 2.38), although both estimates included the null. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) quality of evidence was judged to be low for both HED and WAC, primarily due to risk of attrition and performance bias, heterogeneity and influence of pilot trials on estimates. Conclusions Text messaging alcohol interventions may reduce alcohol consumption compared with no or basic health information; however, there are doubts about the overall quality of the evidence.

The Effect of Question Order on Outcomes in the Core Outcome Set for Brief Alcohol Interventions Among Online Help-Seekers: Protocol for a Factorial Randomized Trial

“…Alcohol brief interventions (ABIs) have been widely used, researched, and disseminated over the past 60 years [1,2], in both face-to-face [3][4][5] and digital [6][7][8] settings and in a variety of populations such as primary care patients [5], emergency health care patients [9,10], college students [11,12], and veterans [13]. Defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "practices that aim to identify a real or potential alcohol problem and motivate an individual to do something about it" [3], ABIs encompass a broad range of actions that aim to help individuals change their drinking behavior.…”

Game Plan—a Brief Web-Based Intervention to Improve Uptake and Use of HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Reduce Alcohol Use Among Gay and Bisexual Men: Content Analysis

“…Fewer such programs have been developed for sexual risk reduction, and evidence of efficacy is mixed [ 99 , 100 ]. However, similar programs developed to help recipients reduce alcohol use show promising effects [ 101 ], although the rigor of studies testing stand-alone SMS text messaging interventions for alcohol has been low to date.…”

Postpartum heavy episodic drinking: A survey to inform development of a text messaging intervention

“…Five items assessed the indicators of severity, including strong urge to drink, alcohol-related problems, failure to meet expectations, concern of others and unsuccessful quit attempts. Respondents were categorised as heavy episodic drinkers if they reported any episodes of binge drinking during pregnancy or reported binge drinking at least monthly before pregnancy or postpartum [8].…”

“…Correspondence to: Dr Sarah Dauber, Partnership to End Addiction, 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA. Tel: 212-841-5270; E-mail: sdauber@toendaddiction.org messaging interventions (TMI) for reducing HED in non-treatment-seeking adults [8]. While there are no TMIs for postpartum HED specifically, TMIs for other health behaviours have demonstrated high satisfaction and retention in perinatal women [9,10].…”