Notifications to Improve Engagement With an Alcohol Reduction App: Protocol for a Micro-Randomized Trial
Notifications to Improve Engagement With an Alcohol Reduction App: Protocol for a Micro-Randomized Trial
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DOI：
10.2196/18690
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发表时间：
2020-08-01
影响因子：
1.7
通讯作者：
Williamson, Elizabeth
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bell, Lauren;Garnett, Claire;Williamson, Elizabeth
背景：Drink Less是一款行为改变应用，旨在帮助普通成年人减少有害的酒精消费。这款应用包括每日上午11点发送的推送通知，要求用户“请完成你的心情和饮酒日记”。之前对Drink Less用户粘性数据的分析表明，当前通知会强烈影响用户在接下来的一个小时内使用该应用的方式。为了利用过度饮酒的潜在脆弱性和晚上使用应用程序的机会，我们将送货时间从上午11点改为晚上8点。我们现在的目标是进一步优化通知的内容和顺序，针对用户对应用的感知有用性测试30个新的证据通知。目标：主要目标是评估在晚上8点发送通知是否会增加随后一个小时的行为参与度（打开应用）。次要目标包括比较新消息库与标准消息的效果，以及随着时间的推移对效果的调节。我们还希望更全面地了解在下载后的前30天内，角色通知对《Drink Less》的整体持续时间、深度和用户粘性的影响。方法：这是一个微型随机试验的方案，有两个额外的平行臂。纳入标准为：饮酒较少的使用者(1)同意参加试验；(2)自我报告基线酒精使用障碍识别测试得分为8分或以上；(3)在英国居住；(4)年龄>= 18岁；(5)报告对少喝酒的兴趣。在微随机试验中，参与者将在每天晚上8点随机接收不通知，新消息库的文本通知或标准消息。主要结果是随时间变化的二元结果，如“用户是否在晚上8点到9点之间打开应用？”初步分析将使用为具有二元结果的微随机试验开发的估计器来估计通知的边际相对风险。随机分配到平行组的参与者将在30天内不收到通知（次要组A），或每天上午11点发送标准通知（次要组B），以便比较不同通知传递策略之间的总体参与度。结果：伦敦大学学院院系研究伦理委员会（CEHP/2016/556）于2019年10月11日批准，伦敦卫生与热带医学学院干预研究伦理委员会（17929）于2019年11月27日批准。招聘于2020年1月2日开始，目前正在进行中。结论：了解推送通知如何影响行为改变应用的用户粘性，可以进一步提高用户粘性，并最终帮助用户减少饮酒。这种理解也可以推广到其他针对各种行为变化的应用程序中。
Background: Drink Less is a behavior change app that aims to help users in the general adult population reduce hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption. The app includes a daily push notification, delivered at 11 am, asking users to "Please complete your mood and drinking diaries." Previous analysis of Drink Less engagement data suggests the current notification strongly influences how users engage with the app in the subsequent hour. To exploit a potential increase of vulnerability of excess drinking and opportunity to engage with the app in the evenings, we changed the delivery time from 11 am to 8 pm. We now aim to further optimise the content and sequence of notifications, testing 30 new evidence-informed notifications targeting the user's perceived usefulness of the app.Objective: The primary objective is to assess whether sending a notification at 8 pm increases behavioral engagement (opening the app) in the subsequent hour. Secondary objectives include comparing the effect of the new bank of messages with the standard message and effect moderation over time. We also aim to more generally understand the role notifications have on the overall duration, depth, and frequency of engagement with Drink Less over the first 30 days after download.Methods: This is a protocol for a micro-randomized trial with two additional parallel arms. Inclusion criteria are Drink Less users who (1) consent to participate in the trial; (2) self-report a baseline Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test score of 8 or above; (3) reside in the United Kingdom; (4) age >= 18 years and; (5) report interest in drinking less alcohol. In the micro-randomized trial, participants will be randomized daily at 8 pm to receive no notification, a notification with text from the new message bank, or the standard message. The primary outcome is the time-varying, binary outcome of "Did the user open the app in the hour from 8 pm to 9 pm?". The primary analysis will estimate the marginal relative risk for the notifications using an estimator developed for micro-randomized trials with binary outcomes. Participants randomized to the parallel arms will receive no notifications (Secondary Arm A), or the standard notification delivered daily at 11 am (Secondary Arm B) over 30 days, allowing the comparison of overall engagement between different notification delivery strategies.Results: Approval was granted by the University College of London's Departmental Research Ethics Committee (CEHP/2016/556) on October 11, 2019, and The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Interventions Research Ethics Committee (17929) on November 27, 2019. Recruitment began on January 2, 2020, and is ongoing.Conclusions: Understanding how push notifications may impact engagement with a behavior change app can lead to further improvements in engagement, and ultimately help users reduce their alcohol consumption. This understanding may also be generalizable to other apps that target a variety of behavior changes.