Improving brief alcohol interventions with a behavioral economic supplement

描述（由申请人提供）：大约20%的大学生是大麻的常规使用者，并且有认知和学业问题、成瘾和危险行为的风险，例如在受损时驾驶。因此，年轻的成年大麻使用者是一个高风险人群，可能需要干预，通过增加参与大麻使用的建设性替代方案来激励大麻的减少。简要动机干预（BMIS）已经证明了对大学生饮酒的有效性，但对大麻使用的有效性缺乏一致的证据。该研究小组开发了一种酒精bmi的补充，即无物质活动会议（SFAS），通过鼓励对学术和职业目标的发展和承诺，并通过强调日常饮酒模式和学术参与对这些目标的影响，直接针对无物质强化和延迟奖励折扣的行为经济机制。一项对照试验发现，SFAS改善了重度饮酒大学生样本的BMI结果，目前正在进行的家长试验正在复制和扩展这些结果。拟议的（为期两年的）成瘾竞争性修订合作研究将使用随机3组（BMI + SFAS vs BMI +放松注意控制vs仅评估）试点试验对120名本科生（50%女性，40%少数民族）进行SFAS评估，这些本科生报告在过去一个月中使用大麻超过40天。研究结果将通过确定SFAS是否能提高标准大麻体重指数的功效来扩展父母资助的目标，并提供效应量估计，以指导更大规模试验的开展。假设在1个月和下学期的随访中（随访与学术日历相结合，以便对大麻使用和活动模式进行代表性测量），BMI+SFAS参与者报告的大麻使用和问题水平显著降低，并且这些降低将超过BMI+放松和评估参与者。探索性分析将检验以下假设：(a) BMI + SFAS对报告更高基线大麻强化效果和延迟奖励折扣的参与者更有效；(b) BMI + SFAS对大麻使用的优势将通过增加无物质活动的参与来调节。对我们假设的支持将扩展行为经济学理论，并将为一种方法提供初步验证，该方法可用于减少越来越多的滥用大麻的大学生对大麻的滥用。此外，鉴于SFAS的重点是增加学术/校园参与，这项工作具有广泛传播的潜力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Approximately 20% of college students are regular marijuana users, and are at risk for cognitive and academic problems, addiction, and risk behaviors such as driving while impaired. Young adult marijuana users are thus a high-risk population and may require an intervention that motivates marijuana reductions by increasing engagement in constructive alternatives to marijuana use. Brief Motivational Interventions (BMIS) have demonstrated efficacy for alcohol use in college students, but lack consistent evidence of efficacy for marijuana use. This research team has developed a supplement to alcohol BMIs, the Substance-Free Activity Session (SFAS), which directly targets the behavioral economic mechanisms of both substance-free reinforcement and delayed reward discounting by encouraging the development of and commitment to academic and career goals, and by highlighting the impact of day-to-day patterns of alcohol use and academic engagement on these goals. A controlled pilot trial found that the SFAS improved BMI outcomes in a sample of heavy drinking college students, and the ongoing parent trial to this revision is replicating and extending those results. The proposed (two-year) Collaborative Research on Addiction Competitive Revision would evaluate the SFAS using a randomized 3-group (BMI + SFAS vs. BMI + Relaxation Attention Control, vs. Assessment Only) pilot trial with 120 undergraduates (50% female, 40% minority) who report using marijuana on > 4 days in the past-month. The results would extend the aims of the parent grant by determining whether the SFAS enhances the efficacy of a standard marijuana BMI, and provide effect size estimates that would guide the development of a larger trial. It is hypothesized that at the 1-month and the next-semester follow-ups (follow-ups are wedded to the academic calendar to allow for representative measurement of marijuana use and activity patterns) BMI+SFAS participants will report significantly lower levels of marijuana use and problems, and that these reductions will exceed those of BMI + Relaxation and Assessment-Only participants. Exploratory analyses will test the hypotheses that (a) the BMI + SFAS will be more effective for participants who report higher baseline marijuana reinforcing efficacy and delayed reward discounting; and (b) the advantage of BMI + SFAS on marijuana use will be mediated by increased participation in substance-free activities. Support for our hypotheses would extend behavioral economic theory and would provide initial validation for an approach that could be used to reduce marijuana misuse among the increasing population of college students who misuse marijuana. Furthermore, given the focus of the SFAS is to increase academic/campus engagement, this work has the potential for widespread dissemination.