Computer-Delivered PFI for Anxiety Sensitivity/Alcohol Intervention for Hazardous Drinkers With Elevated Anxiety Sensitivity

Study Summary

Hazardous alcohol consumption is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in the United States. Further, it is highly comorbid with anxiety and depressive symptoms and disorders; hazardous alcohol use is associated with increased anxiety/depression. Indeed, 'affectively-vulnerable hazardous drinkers' (i.e., drinkers with elevated negative mood states or psychopathology) are 'at risk' for higher drinking rates, more problematic drinking, worsened mental health, and greater disability. Specialty care options are needed to address the unique 'affective needs' of hazardous drinkers. One promising intervention approach is to employ personalized feedback interventions (PFI). These interventions are brief, efficient, and have been shown to be effective in a number of settings and across an array of populations. However, PFIs have not been evaluated among affectively vulnerable hazardous drinkers. In order to address the heterogeneity of negative mood states and disorders among hazardous drinkers, there is a need to theoretically orient the intervention approach on underlying transdiagnostic processes that underpin affective psychopathology. Anxiety sensitivity (AS), the tendency to fear anxiety-related sensations, is a core transdiagnostic vulnerability factor underlying the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders, other emotional disorders, and hazardous drinking. AS is malleable in response to psychosocial interventions, making it a prime risk factor to target in prevention/intervention programs, including PFI approaches. Integrated treatments that address hazardous drinking via AS are nonexistant. As most hazardous drinkers typically do not access treatment because of such barriers as cost, time commitments, stigma, and logistics (e.g., travel, scheduling appointments), there is a need to develop an accessible, brief, integrated tool to explicitly address the drinking-affective vulnerability comorbidity via AS. To address this public health gap, the curren

Primary Outcome

The Alcohol Ladder (Clair et al., 2011). The Alcohol Ladder is a reliable and valid (Hogue, Dauber, \& Morgenstern, 2010) measure of motivation to change alcohol use. It contains 10 statements that correspond to stages of change: pre-contemplation (e.g., "I enjoy drinking and have decided I'll never change it. I have no interest in changing the way I drink"), contemplation (e.g., "I rarely think about changing the way I drink, and I have no plans to change it"), preparation (e.g., "I definitely

Interventions

• BEHAVIORAL Personalized feedback intervention