Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Jun 2, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Jun 3, 2018 - Jul 19, 2018
Date Accepted: Nov 22, 2018
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
A Smartphone App to Assess Alcohol Consumption Behaviours: Development, Compliance, and Reactivity
ABSTRACT
Background:
There are disadvantages – largely related to cost, participant burden, and missing data – associated with traditional electronic methods of assessing drinking behaviour in real-time. Smartphone apps participants download to their own phones might minimise some of these disadvantages. To date, however, few researchers have detailed the process involved in developing custom-built apps for use in the experimental arena or explored methodological concerns regarding compliance and reactivity.
Objective:
This paper describes the process used to guide development of a custom-built smartphone app designed to capture alcohol intake behaviour in the healthy population. Methodological issues related to compliance with, and reactivity to, study protocols, as a function of hazard/non-hazard drinker status are also explored.
Methods:
An iterative development process that included elements typical of agile software design guided the creation of the CNLab-A app. Healthy individuals used the app to record alcohol consumption behaviour each day for 21 days. Submissions were either event- or notification-contingent. We considered the size and diversity of the sample plus assessed the data for evidence of app protocol compliance and reactivity as a function of hazard/non-hazard drinker status.
Results:
CNLab-A yielded a large and diverse sample (N = 671, Mage = 23.12). On average, participants submitted data on 20.27 (SD = 1.88) days. Both hazard and non-hazard drinkers were highly compliant with app protocols. Linear growth analyses revealed hazardous drinkers decreased their alcohol intake by 0.80 standard drinks over the 21-day experimental period. There was no change to the drinking of non-hazard individuals.
Conclusions:
Smartphone apps participants download to their own phones are an effective and methodologically sound means of obtaining alcohol consumption information for research purposes. While further investigation is required, such apps might, in future, allow for a more thorough examination of the antecedents and consequences of drinking behaviour. Clinical Trial: NA
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.