{"id":196,"date":"2017-08-18T10:00:56","date_gmt":"2017-08-18T09:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/?p=196"},"modified":"2018-04-30T09:16:30","modified_gmt":"2018-04-30T08:16:30","slug":"text-before-you-drink-how-mobile-phones-could-help-reduce-binge-drinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/text-before-you-drink-how-mobile-phones-could-help-reduce-binge-drinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Text before you drink? \u2013 how mobile phones could help reduce binge drinking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Leonie Schittenhelm<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-317\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/files\/2017\/08\/beer-199652_960_720.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"937\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/files\/2017\/08\/beer-199652_960_720.jpg 937w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/files\/2017\/08\/beer-199652_960_720-300x231.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/files\/2017\/08\/beer-199652_960_720-768x590.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/files\/2017\/08\/beer-199652_960_720-390x300.jpg 390w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 937px) 100vw, 937px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"font_8 color_11\">Everyone\u2019s had those good intentions \u2013 that fitness app just after new years, this meditation app that the colleague that always seems like she has it all together recommended. The first few days go well, but then \u2013 well, let\u2019s say the reminders keep popping up, without causing much more action than the thumb swipe that dismisses them. So how could text message-based intervention help people who have problems with binge-drinking? That is just what a collaborative study between Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle wants to find out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font_8 color_11\">Over 12 weeks they sent over 100 text messages to each study participant \u2013 the clue: instead of merely reminding them to drink less, they were designed to foster interaction and response. Questions such as \u2018Can you think of any reasons why it might be a good idea to cut down a bit on your drinking?\u2019 were interspersed with real quotes from pilot study participants (Mark from Edinburgh says: \u201cSometimes I\u2019ve not had enough money to pay the bills.\u201d) and challenges to identify achievable goals to reduce alcohol intake, if even just a little bit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font_8 color_11\">Responses ranged from humourous (On the question who would be pleased to see them drink less: \u201cMy wife, she\u2019d get more money for shoes!!\u201d) over heart-breaking (on the question, if they or their friends had experienced problems due to drinking: \u201cI\u2019ve had a friend that\u2019s died because of drink. Fell off a balcony in a block of flats.\u201d) to aspirational (\u201cStop earlier in the evening or at the very least slow down compared to others.\u201d). While the researchers including Dr. Falko F. Sniehotta from Newcastle University, still note some caveats of the study, the success of actively engaging individuals in a text-based intervention programme instead of passively informing them speaks for itself. Answering one of the last messages one participant writes: \u201cHad my ups and downs but I\u2019m getting there now. Enjoyed the experience, thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font_8 color_11\">If you want to have a look at the study yourself: Irvine, Linda, et al. (2017) &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/discovery.dundee.ac.uk\/portal\/files\/17327732\/s12529_017_9666_z.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Real time monitoring of engagement with a text message intervention to reduce binge drinking among men living in socially disadvantaged areas of Scotland<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Leonie Schittenhelm Everyone\u2019s had those good intentions \u2013 that fitness app just after new years, this meditation app that the colleague that always seems like she has it all together recommended. The first few days go well, but then \u2013 well, let\u2019s say the reminders keep popping up, without causing much more action than [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-leonie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":318,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions\/318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/react\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}