Feasibility, Acceptability, and Initial Efficacy of Delivering Alcohol Use Cognitive Interventions via Crowdsourcing

Justin C. Strickland, J. Chauncey Hill, William W. Stoops, Craig R. Rush

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Inhibitory control training and working memory training are 2 cognitive interventions that have been considered for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Existing studies have typically relied on small samples that preclude the evaluation of small effects. Crowdsourcing is a sampling method that can address these limitations by effectively and efficiently recruiting large samples with varying health histories. This study tested the feasibility and acceptability of delivering cognitive training interventions via crowdsourcing. Methods: Participants with AUD were recruited from the crowdsourcing website Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk) (ClinicalTrials.gov; NCT03438539). Following completion of a baseline survey, participants were randomized to an inhibitory control, working memory, or control training condition. Participants were asked to complete training tasks daily over a 2-week period. Follow-up assessments evaluating acceptability measures and alcohol and soda consumption were completed immediately following and 2 weeks after training. Results: Response rates were satisfactory over the 2-week intervention period (65% of training tasks completed), and performance on training tasks was consistent with expected effects. A majority of participants indicated that they were satisfied with the study procedures (94.6%), would participate again (97.4%), and would consider incorporating the training task in their daily life (81.1%). Modest reductions in alcohol consumption were observed (e.g., 0.5 drinking day/wk), primarily in the inhibitory control group, and these effects were selective to alcohol use and did not extend to soda consumption. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate the feasibility and acceptability of utilizing crowdsourcing methods for interventions development. Such a demonstration helps establish the crowdsourcing setting for future large sample studies testing novel interventions for AUD and other substance use disorders.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)888-899
Number of pages12
JournalAlcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
Volume43
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 by the Research Society on Alcoholism

Funding

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation grant 1247392 and Pilot Research Funds and Professional Development Funds from the University of Kentucky, Department of Behavioral Science. These funding sources had no role in study design, data collection or analysis, or preparation and submission of the manuscript. The authors have no financial conflicts of interest in regard to this research.

FundersFunder number
Department of Behavioral Science, 120 Medical Behavioral Science Building
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Directorate for Education and Human Resources1247392
University of Kentucky

    Keywords

    • Alcohol
    • Crowdsourcing
    • Inhibitory Control
    • Working Memory
    • mTurk

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Medicine (miscellaneous)
    • Toxicology
    • Psychiatry and Mental health

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