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Real-time mechanism-based interventions for daily alcohol challenges: Protocol for ecological momentary assessment and intervention

Digital Health, vol. 11, pp. 20552076241311731

Abstract

Background: Advancing evidence-based, tailored interventions for substance use disorders (SUDs) requires understanding temporal directionality while upholding ecological validity. Previous studies identified loneliness and craving as pivotal factors associated with alcohol consumption, yet the precise directionality of these relationships remains ambiguous. Objective: This study aims to establish a smartphone-based real-life intervention platform that integrates momentary assessment and intervention into everyday life. The platform will explore the temporal directionality of contextual influences on alcohol use among individuals experiencing loneliness and craving. Methods: We will target 180 individuals aged 18 to 70 in Germany who report loneliness, alcohol cravings, and meet risk or binge drinking criteria (over 14 standard drinks per week or five drinks in a single day for males, and over seven drinks per week or four drinks in a single day for females). Using a Within-Person-Encouragement-Design and Just-In-Time-Adaptive-Interventions, we will manipulate the contexts of loneliness and alcohol craving with cognitive reappraisal and physical activity interventions against a control condition (working memory task). Results: Recruitment started in June 2024, with data collection and processing expected by June 2027. Conclusion: Our real-life intervention platform endeavors to serve as a robust tool for discerning the directionality of the effects from time series data in everyday life influences on alcohol use for the future study. Ultimately, it will pave the way for low-threshold prevention, clinical treatment, and therapy to target diverse contexts of everyday life in SUD. Trial registration: German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00033133.

Authors 29

  1. Shuyan Liu corresponding

    Deutsches Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit · Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (Campus Charité Mitte), Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Sites Berlin/Potsdam and Heidelberg/Mannheim/Ulm, Germany

  2. Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (Campus Charité Mitte), Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

  3. Heidelberg University · Central Institute of Mental Health · Medizinische Fakultät Mannheim

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

  4. University of Potsdam

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Sports and Health Sciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

  5. Heidelberg University · Central Institute of Mental Health · Medizinische Fakultät Mannheim · Deutsches Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

    German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Sites Berlin/Potsdam and Heidelberg/Mannheim/Ulm, Germany

  6. Heidelberg University · Central Institute of Mental Health · Medizinische Fakultät Mannheim · Deutsches Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

    German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Sites Berlin/Potsdam and Heidelberg/Mannheim/Ulm, Germany

  7. Technische Universität Dresden

    Affiliation as printed

    University Neuropsychology Center (UNC), TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

  8. University of Würzburg · Universitätsklinikum Würzburg · Technische Universität Dresden

    Affiliation as printed

    Addiction Research, Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital and University Würzburg, Wurzburg, Germany

  9. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology · Heidelberg University · Central Institute of Mental Health · Medizinische Fakultät Mannheim · Deutsches Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

    German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Sites Berlin/Potsdam and Heidelberg/Mannheim/Ulm, Germany

    Institute of Sports and Sports Science, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany

  10. Technische Universität Dresden

    Affiliation as printed

    Addiction Research, Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

  11. Heidelberg University · Central Institute of Mental Health · Medizinische Fakultät Mannheim

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

  12. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Sports and Sports Science, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany

  13. Deutsches Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit · Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (Campus Charité Mitte), Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Sites Berlin/Potsdam and Heidelberg/Mannheim/Ulm, Germany

  14. Heidelberg University · Central Institute of Mental Health · Medizinische Fakultät Mannheim

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

  15. University of Potsdam

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Sports and Health Sciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

  16. Heidelberg University · Central Institute of Mental Health · Medizinische Fakultät Mannheim · Deutsches Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

    German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Sites Berlin/Potsdam and Heidelberg/Mannheim/Ulm, Germany

  17. University of Zurich · Erasmus University Rotterdam

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Healthy Longevity Center, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

  18. Heidelberg University · Central Institute of Mental Health · Medizinische Fakultät Mannheim · Deutsches Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

    German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Sites Berlin/Potsdam and Heidelberg/Mannheim/Ulm, Germany

  19. RWTH Aachen University

    Affiliation as printed

    RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

  20. University of Potsdam · Deutsches Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Sports and Health Sciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Sites Berlin/Potsdam and Heidelberg/Mannheim/Ulm, Germany

  21. Technische Universität Dresden

    Affiliation as printed

    Addiction Research, Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

  22. Center for Information Services and High Performance Computing · Technische Universität Dresden

    Affiliation as printed

    Center for Information Services and High Performance Computing (ZIH), Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

  23. Heidelberg University · Central Institute of Mental Health · Medizinische Fakultät Mannheim · Deutsches Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit

    Affiliation as printed

    German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Sites Berlin/Potsdam and Heidelberg/Mannheim/Ulm, Germany

    Institute of Psychopharmacology, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

  24. Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (Campus Charité Mitte), Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

  25. Heidelberg University · Central Institute of Mental Health · Medizinische Fakultät Mannheim · Deutsches Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

    German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Sites Berlin/Potsdam and Heidelberg/Mannheim/Ulm, Germany

  26. Deutsches Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit · Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (Campus Charité Mitte), Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Sites Berlin/Potsdam and Heidelberg/Mannheim/Ulm, Germany

  27. University of Würzburg · Universitätsklinikum Würzburg · Technische Universität Dresden

    Affiliation as printed

    Addiction Research, Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital and University Würzburg, Wurzburg, Germany

  28. Ruhr University Bochum

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of eHealth and Sports Analytics, Faculty of Sport Science, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

  29. Markus Reichert corresponding

    University of Salzburg · Heidelberg University · Central Institute of Mental Health · Medizinische Fakultät Mannheim · Ruhr University Bochum

    Affiliation as printed

    Department for Sport and Exercise Science, Paris Lodron University Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

    Department of eHealth and Sports Analytics, Faculty of Sport Science, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

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