The substance abuse research conducted by Frederick Muench, an associate professor at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, owes its inspiration to his job decades ago at a shelter for homeless adolescents in New York City.
“I realized that substance abuse was the number one reason why they were not progressing,” he said. “The kids who stopped using got better, even if they had other issues. The ones who kept using did not.”
Ever since, Muench has sought tools to help addicts kick their drug habits. On Thursday he published a study that sheds new light on how to combat alcohol abuse through automated text messages sent to heavy drinkers.
The study, which appeared in the journal PLOS ONE, showed that when abusers received text messages tailored to their drinking habits, their drinking reduction was similar to that resulting from many in-person moderation treatments, a Feinstein statement said.
“Many support groups, therapists and counselors are available to help those diagnosed with alcohol dependency,” the statement said. “But for those who aren’t diagnosed or don’t want to seek help from others, it is a struggle to find adequate resources to effectively reduce drinking.”
Muench’s study lasted 12 weeks and involved 152 participants who identified as heavy drinkers.
Each of the participants received regular text messages urging them to avoid problem drinking. Some of the texts used gain-frames, which told the drinker what they could gain from kicking the habit, and other texts used loss-frames, which explained what the drinker stood to lose. Some participants received texts tailored to their specific drinking habits.
Those tailored texts could either be static, recurring messages or adaptive ones that changed in response to information about drinking choices accumulated over the course of the study.
All forms of text message intervention performed better than the control group, which only received once-weekly texts inquiring about alcohol consumption.
Muench said the adaptive tailored texts caused the greatest reduction in drinking.
“Adaptation works but those participants were getting more messages and they were getting extra messages on the nights they drink most heavily,” he said.
“We don’t know if adaptation is the mechanism or just supporting people more on nights they drink most heavily,” he added.
Muench and his fellow researchers applied for a grant from the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse to conduct an additional study on what makes the adaptive texting effective. They will find out whether they received the funding on Feb. 17, he said.
Muench acknowledge that he has retained equity in a company he founded called Mobile Health Interventions, which helps clients develop digital intervention programs of the kind discussed in the study.
He said his work and the experiment come down to “the power of a simple text message to possibly make a difference.”
