Using online crowdsourcing to understand young adult attitudes toward expert-authored messages aimed at reducing hazardous alcohol consumption and to collect peer-authored messages

Abstract

Text message delivered prevention interventions have the potential to improve health behaviors on a large scale, including reducing hazardous alcohol consumption in young adults. Online crowdsourcing can be used to efficiently develop relevant messages, but remains largely understudied. This study aims to use online crowdsourcing to evaluate young adult attitudes toward expert-authored messages and to collect peer-authored messages. We designed an online survey with four drinking scenarios and a demographic questionnaire. We made it available to people who reported age 18-25 years, residence in the US, and any lifetime alcohol consumption via the Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing platform. Participants rated 71 sample text messages on instrumental (helpful) and affective (interesting) attitude scales and generated their own messages. All messages were coded as informational, motivational, or strategy facilitating. We examined differences in attitudes by message type and by drinking status and sex. We surveyed 272 participants in 48 h, and 222 were included in analysis for a total participant payment cost of $178. Sample mean age was 23 years old, with 50 % being female, 65 % being of white race, and 78 % scored as hazardous drinkers. Informational messages were rated the most helpful, whereas motivational messages were rated the most interesting. Hazardous drinkers rated informational messages less helpful than non-hazardous drinkers. Men reported messages less helpful and interesting than women for most categories. Young adults authored 161 messages, with the highest proportion being motivational. Young adults had variable instrumental and affective attitudes toward expert-authored messages. They generated a substantial number of peer-authored messages that could enhance relevance of future alcohol prevention interventions.

Text Message-Based Intervention Targeting Alcohol Consumption Among University Students: Findings From a Formative Development Study

“…A recent study showed that SMS text messages that aimed to reduce hazardous drinking were only perceived to be moderately helpful and interesting among a population of young adults. The study highlighted the challenge of engaging this target group in alcohol prevention [29]. Our findings showed that messages that were neutral, motivated, clear, and tangible were more engaging and likeable.…”

A word of advice: how to tailor motivational text messages based on behavior change theory to personality and gender

“…For example, Kristan and Suffoletto [27] found that overall women responded most favorably to all their feedback messages (divided into informational, motivational, or strategy facilitating). Busch et al [8] found males to be more motivated by comparison and competition strategies, but these do not relate to any of the Experiential strategies we found more motivating for males.…”

“…Kristan and Suffoletto [27] looked at how men and women rated feedback messages to reduce hazardous alcohol consumption and found that overall women responded more favorably to all feedback messages, especially on messages that facilitated a strategy. Yan et al [50] found that women were not driven by competitive messages but men were.…”

Patient Engagement and the Design of Digital Health

“…In the world of digital health, a more dynamic process is needed to match pace with evolving technology. Some emergency medicine researchers have used crowd‐sourcing, in which content is curated from groups of people similar to the target population, to develop and rate intervention content . Others use shorter trials with strategic qualitative components to uncover flaws in design more quickly than larger controlled trials.…”