Project Guard: Reducing Alcohol Misuse/Abuse in the National Guard

The project is a fully-powered randomized controlled trial of a smartphone app which includes
an alcohol brief intervention (SP-BI) versus an Enhanced Usual Care (EUC) condition for
National Guard members in the State of Ohio, who are already participating in the OHARNGMHI
study, titled "Resilience and Risk Factors Associated with Deployment Related Posttraumatic
Psychopathology", who meet criteria for at-risk drinking in the previous 4 months. After
tailoring the content of the SP-BI intervention for NG soldiers, the study will screen ~
3,100 individuals over the three year enrollment period to identify 750 participants with
at-risk drinking. TParticipants in this study will be randomized to either the SP-BI (n=375)
or the EUC condition (n=375) and followed at 4, 8 and 12 months post-enrollment. Participants
who are randomized to the SP-BI condition will receive an informational brochure with
resources available to members of the military related to mental health and alcohol use and
will download a free app on to their smartphones. The app will be developed to be used on
both Android and iPhone platforms and will be used over 12 weeks to deliver the study
intervention. Those assigned to the EUC condition will receive the informational brochure
only.

The specific aims of the study are to compare SP-BI and EUC in: 1) Reducing the frequency and
intensity of at-risk drinking at 3 -, 6- and 12-months; 2) Decreasing binge drinking at 4-,
8- and 12 months. The secondary aims are to: 1) Compare the SP-BI and EUC conditions in
reducing the frequency of illicit drug use and depressive symptoms at 4-, 8- and 12-months;
2) Examine if deployment status moderates the effect of intervention assignment (SP-BI or
EUC) on post-intervention drinking, depressed feelings, and other substance use.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Have a past 4-month AUDIT-C score of 5 or more for men and 4 or more for women
indicating that they meet criteria for at-risk drinking, AND

- Do not meet any of the exclusion criteria.

- Must still be a current or former member of the Ohio National Guard (i.e. they have
not retired or separated from the ONG).

Exclusion Criteria:

- Those who do not have access to a smart phone with either Android or iOS operating
system

- Those in active treatment for substance use disorders (i.e., report addictions
treatment in past 4 months) will be excluded because the proposed SBIRT intervention
is focused on early brief intervention for those with at-risk drinking and on referral
to treatment for those with more serious problems