Trial reportPloS one2017
A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial of Different Mobile Messaging Interventions for Problem Drinking Compared to Weekly Drink Tracking.
Trial report in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Text messaging interventions for reducing alcohol consumption among risky drinkers: systematic review and meta-analysis.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2021Pooled it
- Current reporting of usability and impact of mHealth interventions for substance use disorder: A systematic review.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2020Pooled it
- Measures of Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Quality of Telemedicine in the Management of Alcohol Abuse, Addiction, and Rehabilitation: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Pooled it
- Mobile Health Interventions for Self-Control of Unhealthy Alcohol Use: Systematic Review.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2019Pooled it
- Personalised digital interventions for reducing hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption in community-dwelling populations.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017Pooled it
- Identifying Active Ingredients that Cause Change in Digital Parent Training Programs for Child Behavior Problems: A Qualitative Exploration.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Trial
- Text Messaging Intervention for Postpartum Alcohol Use: Micro-Randomized Trial Supports Feasibility, Acceptability, and Maternal Message Preference.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2026Trial
- Results from a randomized controlled trial testing theory-driven enhancements - Growth mindsets and message framing -- to a brief CBT text-message invention for co-occurring PTSD symptoms and alcohol misuse.Behaviour research and therapy · 2025Trial
- Automated, tailored adaptive mobile messaging to reduce alcohol consumption in help-seeking adults: A randomized controlled trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Establishing the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy of a multi-component behavioral intervention to reduce pain and substance use and improve physical performance in older persons living with HIV.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2019Trial
- Effectiveness of brief motivational interviewing for alcohol misuse: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.Addictive behaviors reports · 2026Review
- A randomized controlled trial testing theory-driven enhancements to increase the efficacy of and engagement in a brief cognitive-behavioural therapy text-message intervention for co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and alcohol misuse.The British journal of clinical psychology · 2025Article
- A Narrative Review of Alcohol Prevention Interventions Among Older Adults.Alcohol research : current reviews · 2025Review
- Achieving clinically meaningful outcomes in digital health: a six-step, cyclical precision engagement framework (ENGAGE).Frontiers in digital health · 2025Article
- Translation Effectiveness of Offset Heart Rate Biofeedback as a Mindless Intervention for Alcohol Craving Among Risky Drinkers: Controlled Experiment.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Article
- A Bayesian zero-inflated beta-binomial model for longitudinal data with group-specific changepoints.Statistics in medicine · 2024Article
- Development of culturally-appropriate text message booster content to follow a brief intervention focused on reducing alcohol related harms for injury patients in Moshi, Tanzania.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- A mobile phone intervention to reduce heavy drinking: a preliminary analysis of anchoring heuristics.BMC psychology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionRecent evidence suggests that text messaging may help to reduce problem drinking as an extension to in-person services, but very little is known about the effectiveness of remote messaging on problem drinking as a stand-alone intervention, or how different types of messages may improve drinking outcomes in those seeking to moderate their alcohol consumption.
methodsWe conducted an exploratory, single-blind randomized controlled pilot study comparing four different types of alcohol reduction-themed text messages sent daily to weekly drink self-tracking texts in order to determine their impact on drinking outcomes over a 12-week period in 152 participants (≈ 30 per group) seeking to reduce their drinking on the internet. Messaging interventions included: weekly drink self-tracking mobile assessment texts (MA), loss-framed texts (LF), gain-framed texts (GF), static tailored texts (ST), and adaptive tailored texts (TA). Poisson and least squares regressions were used to compare differences between each active messaging group and the MA control.
resultsWhen adjusting for baseline drinking, participants in all messaging groups except GF significantly reduced the number of drinks consumed per week and the number of heavy drinking days compared to MA. Only the TA and GF groups were significantly different from MA in reducing the number of drinking days. While the TA group yielded the largest effect sizes on all outcome measures, there were no significant differences between active messaging groups on any outcome measure. 79.6% of individuals enrolled in the study wanted to continue receiving messages for an additional 12 weeks at the end of the study. DISCUSSION: Results of this pilot study indicate that remote automated text messages delivered daily can help adult problem drinkers reduce drinking frequency and quantity significantly more than once-a-week self-tracking messages only, and that tailored adaptive texts yield the largest effect sizes across outcomes compared to MA. Larger samples are needed to understand differences between messaging interventions and to target their mechanisms of efficacy.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.