Facebook: A screening tool to identify alcohol use among female college freshmen

具体目标：该试点项目的主要目标是测试分析公共Facebook（FB）配置文件的预测有效性，以确定18至20岁的女大学新生的酒精使用情况。背景和理由：大学生饮酒与显著的发病率和死亡率相关。对大学生饮酒者的研究已经使用来自诊所的样本进行;然而，在线社区对这一人群越来越重要。大约四分之三的威斯康星州麦迪逊大学本科生报告拥有社交网站（SNS）的个人资料，70%的威斯康星大学麦迪逊大学新生在他们公开的FB个人资料中提到酒精使用。我们的试点研究已经确定了女性大学新生中酒精使用和感知压力之间的关键联系，我们打算在未来的干预中瞄准这种关系。确定一个创新的方法，使用FB来识别大学生中的酒精使用具有巨大的潜力，为未来的干预工作。初步研究：PI以前的工作包括4项描述性研究，使用SNS来识别年龄较大的青少年和大学生从事危险行为，如酒精使用，重点小组与大学新生关于酒精使用的沉淀物和试点干预研究，使用SNS来减少年龄较大的青少年的在线风险行为。Co-I的研究小组已经发表了14篇关于酒精筛查的研究文章。研究方法：这项拟议的研究将通过FB档案确定170名威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的女新生：85名在FB档案中提到饮酒，85名没有这些参考资料。这些受试者将通过FB电子邮件或电话联系，并被邀请参加面对面的采访。这次访谈将使用经过验证的筛选工具来评估酒精使用情况，以及包括压力，精神疾病和其他风险行为在内的协变量。我们将通过28天的时间线随访，将FB上显示的酒精参考与访谈期间报告的酒精使用进行比较，以评估FB配置文件编码的预测有效性。标准将是过去一个月内任何采访报告的酒精使用情况。重要性：FB配置文件提供了一个机会，以确定女大学新生参考酒精使用，并调查协变量，可能有助于酒精使用，如压力。一个干预措施，包括减轻压力，以及简短的医生干预酒精的使用及其与压力的关系可能是引人注目的女大学生。在进行这种干预之前，必须建立所显示的酒精参考和访谈报告的酒精使用之间的联系。这将是第一个研究，以确定大学生使用FB和进行面对面的采访，以验证显示的健康信息从FB。这些信息可以提供一种创新方法，让学生在他们生活的“真实的”和“虚拟的”世界中认识他们。 公共卫生相关性：这项研究将试点测试使用社交网络网站（SNS），以确定女大学新生谁显示在他们的Facebook（FB）的网络配置文件中引用酒精使用。本研究的结果有可能建立之间的联系，自我展示的SNS配置文件和自我报告的健康信息，通过采访的健康信息。此外，这项评估的结果有可能影响公共卫生实践，因为它展示了如何使用公共网站将大学生饮酒情况的识别扩展到互联网，这一策略可以很容易地推广到全国各地的大学。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Specific aim: The primary goal of this pilot project is to test the predictive validity of analyzing public Facebook (FB) profiles to identify alcohol use in female college freshmen ages 18 to 20 years old. Background and justification: Alcohol use among college students is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Studies of college student drinkers have been conducted using samples derived from clinics; however, online communities are of increasing importance to this population. Approximately three-fourths of University of Wisconsin Madison undergraduates report ownership of a social networking web site (SNS) profile, and 70% of UW Madison college freshmen reference alcohol use on their publicly available FB profiles. Our pilot studies have identified key links between alcohol use and perceived stress among female college freshmen, a relationship we intend to target in a future intervention. Identifying an innovative method using FB to identify alcohol use among college students has tremendous potential for future intervention work. Preliminary Studies: The PI's previous work includes 4 descriptive studies using SNSs to identify older adolescents and college students engaging in risk behaviors such as alcohol use, focus groups with college freshmen regarding precipitators of alcohol use and a pilot intervention study using SNSs to reduce online risk behaviors in older adolescents. The Co-I's research group has published 14 research articles focused on alcohol screening. Methods: The proposed study will identify 170 female UW Madison freshmen via FB profiles: 85 with references to alcohol use on their FB profiles and 85 without these references present. These subjects will be contacted by FB email or phone and invited to participate in a face-to-face interview. This interview will use validated screening tools to assess alcohol use, as well as covariates including stress, mental illness and other risk behaviors. We will compare displayed alcohol references on FB to alcohol use reported during interviews via a 28 day time line followback to assess the predictive validity of FB profile coding. The criteria standard will be any interview-reported alcohol use in the past month. Significance: FB profiles offer an opportunity to identify female college freshmen who reference alcohol use, and investigate covariates that may contribute to alcohol use such as stress. An intervention encompassing stress reduction as well as brief physician intervention regarding alcohol use and its relationship to stress may be compelling to female college students. Before such an intervention can take place, the link between displayed alcohol references and interview-reported alcohol use must be established. This would be the first study to identify college students using FB and conduct in-person interview to validate the displayed health information from FB. This information could provide an innovative method to meet students in both the "real" and "virtual" world in which they live. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This study will pilot test the use of a social networking Web site (SNS) to identify female college freshmen who display references to alcohol use on their Facebook (FB) web profiles. The results of this study have the potential to establish links between self-displayed health information on SNS profiles and self-reported health information via interview. Further, the results of this evaluation have the potential to impact public health practice by demonstrating how to expand identification of college student alcohol use to the Internet using public Web sites, a strategy that could be easily translated to colleges around the country.