A Hybrid Type 1 Effectiveness Implementation Trial of a Parent-Based Intervention to Address Social Media Influences on Adolescent Alcohol Outcomes

About This Grant

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Despite the high prevalence of alcohol use and related negative consequences among adolescents, few receive evidence-based alcohol prevention. The under-implementation of evidence-based approaches for this age group highlights the need to bridge this gap to achieve meaningful progress in reducing alcohol use and its associated harms. A wealth of research indicates that alcohol parent-based interventions (PBIs; i.e., interventions that use parents as the intervention channels) have beneficial effects for reducing adolescent alcohol use, but one limitation of alcohol PBIs is they do not account for the large role social media plays in adolescents’ lives nor how it relates to adolescent alcohol cognitions and use. Our promising formative work incorporating social media content into an alcohol PBI (R34AA026332) supports high feasibility and acceptability of this approach. However, understanding whether an alcohol and social media PBI is sufficient or whether simultaneously delivering alcohol and social media content to adolescents via a personalized feedback intervention (PFI) increases effectiveness in comparison with standard alcohol PBI handbooks has important implications for how prevention programs are delivered for adolescents. To identify the most effective intervention strategy, we will conduct a Hybrid Type 1 effectiveness-implementation trial design. This approach simultaneously focuses on both outcomes and processes, ensuring a comprehensive evaluation. By addressing both aspects, the proposed research can accelerate the translation of research into practice, ultimately driving faster and more impactful public health outcomes. In line with Hybrid Type 1 designs, the primary goal of the proposed work is determining the comparative effectiveness of (a) a combined approach whereby parents receive the alcohol and social media PBI and adolescents receive a brief alcohol and social media PFI to (b) an alcohol and social media PBI without an adolescent alcohol and social media PFI and (c) an efficacious alcohol PBI handbook (i.e., no social media content and no adolescent PFI) as a treatment as usual comparison. The secondary goal of this R01 proposal is to identify factors influencing implementation and to assess early implementation outcomes (i.e., acceptability, appropriateness, adoption, feasibility, fidelity) using mixed methods. These goals will be met in turn by 1) gathering parent and adolescent (age 12-17) feedback on necessary adaptations of our proposed intervention approaches via an iterative series of focus groups, 2) conducting a comparative effectiveness RCT with 450 dyads (total N = 900) of adolescents (age 12- 17) and their parents/guardians and 3) perform an intervention evaluation as part of the Hybrid Type 1 research design with a community advisory board and key informant interviews. By working directly with community partners, parents, and adolescents from the start to determine the best way to deploy this program in the real-world, there is a high likelihood that this program could be implemented and well-received in communities and have substantial impact on public health.