Use of Exercise to Reduce Young Adult Marijuana Use There is an App for That

描述（由申请人提供）：目前，大麻（MJ）是最流行的非法药物，流行率研究表明年轻人中的使用越来越多（约翰斯顿等人，2011年）。即便如此，也很少有有效的干预措施来帮助MJ使用者减少摄入量，以避免不良后果，包括MJ依赖。在这个修订后的申请中，我们提出了一个第一阶段的疗效研究，以开发和初步测试一种创新的干预措施，以减少经常使用MJ（> 3次/周）的年轻人使用MJ。该干预包括来自Maritime Check-Up（MCU; Stephens等人，2007），这是一种基于MI的短暂干预措施，已显示出减少MJ使用的希望。它还结合了我们正在进行的研究的结果，这表明运动/体育活动（PA）有潜力作为MJ使用的积极替代品。我们的研究还表明，短（即，10分钟）的适度或剧烈运动会减少使用MJ的渴望/冲动。运动干预成功地减少了合法物质的使用，如烟草（例如，马库斯等人，2005）和酒精（例如，Brown等人，2009年），但尚未充分测试MJ使用。该R34应用程序的两个目标是：1）开发由四个60分钟的由MCU内容组成的面对面会话组成的干预（例如，个性化反馈，MI）以及促进锻炼/体育活动（EA）作为MJ使用的替代品的智能手机应用程序（app）。EA将专门针对年轻人设计，将提供一个易于访问，灵活，方便的个性化信息和提醒平台，促进运动/PA作为日常生活中使用MJ的积极替代品。2)对4周MCU+EA干预与仅MCU对照条件进行初步/疗效研究。我们将使用骨灰盒随机化将新兴/非成年MJ用户（N = 40）分配到两种情况。在1周基线、4周干预阶段以及1个月、3个月和6个月随访期间，所有参与者将使用智能手机应用程序提供MJ相关变量的实时数据，并佩戴加速度计提供PA数据。将使用多水平模型来检验我们的假设，即与仅MCU对照相比，MCU+EA干预将在干预后和每次随访时产生更大的MJ使用（和相关MJ问题）数量和频率下降。多层次模型也将用于探索实时数据，以检查变量的作用，如对MJ的渴望/渴望，社会因素和PA剂量在减少MJ使用的数量和频率。这项第1阶段研究在开发和使用智能手机应用程序方面具有独特性和创新性，以促进和评估运动/PA作为日常生活中使用MJ的积极替代品。它包括尖端技术（例如，加速度计、智能手机应用程序）进行实时评估。这项研究将对运动/PA作为减少新兴和年轻成年人使用MJ和相关问题的策略的有限知识做出重大贡献。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Currently, marijuana (MJ) is the most popular illicit drug, with prevalence studies indicating increasing use among young adults (Johnston et al., 2011). Even so, there are few effective interventions to help MJ users reduce their intake to avoid negative consequences, including MJ dependence. In this revised application, we propose a Stage 1 efficacy study to develop and initially test an innovative intervention to reduce MJ use among young adults who regularly use MJ (> 3 episodes/week). The intervention includes elements from the Marijuana Check-Up (MCU; Stephens et al., 2007), a MI-based brief intervention that has shown promise for reducing MJ use. It also incorporates findings from our ongoing research, which suggest that exercise/physical activity (PA) has potential as a positive alternative to MJ use. Our research also has shown that short (i.e., 10 minute) bouts of moderate or intense exercise reduce craving/urges to use MJ. Exercise interventions have successfully reduced use of licit substances, such as tobacco (e.g., Marcus et al., 2005) and alcohol (e.g., Brown et al., 2009), but have not been adequately tested for MJ use. The two aims of this R34 application are: 1) To develop an intervention that consists of four, 60-minute, in-person sessions composed of MCU content (e.g., personalized feedback, MI) as well as a smartphone application (app) that promotes exercise/physical activity (EA) as an alternative to MJ use. The EA, which will be designed to specifically appeal to young adults, will provide a readily-accessible, flexible, and convenient platform for personalized information and reminders that promote exercise/PA as a positive alternative to MJ use in ongoing daily life. 2) To conduct a pilot/efficacy study of the 4-week MCU+EA intervention vs. a MCU-only control condition. We will use urn randomization to assign emerging/young-adult MJ users (N = 40) to the two conditions. During the 1-week baseline, 4-week intervention phase, and 1-, 3-, and 6-month follow-ups, all participants will use the smartphone app to provide real-time data on MJ-related variables and wear accelerometers to provide PA data. Multilevel modeling will be used to test our hypothesis that the MCU+EA intervention, compared to MCU-only control, will produce greater decreases in quantity and frequency of MJ use (and related MJ problems) at post-intervention and at each follow-up. Multilevel modeling also will be used to explore the real-time data to examine the role of variables such as urge/craving for MJ, social factors, and dosage of PA in the reduction of the quantity and frequency of MJ use. This Stage 1 study is unique and innovative in its development and use of a smartphone app to promote and evaluate exercise/PA as a positive alternative to MJ use in daily life. It includes cutting-edge technology (e.g., accelerometers, smartphone app) for real-time assessments. This research will make significant contributions to the limited knowledge of exercise/PA as a strategy for reducing MJ use and related problems among emerging and young adults.