Research Briefs

Feasibility, Usability, and Acceptability of Mobile Coach-Teen: A Smartphone App-Based Preventative Intervention for Risky Adolescent Drinking Behavior

Authors

Clement A, Ravet M, Stanger C, & Gabrielli J

Purpose

Early assessment of the feasibility, usability, and acceptability of a preventative alcohol intervention adapted for the U.S. adolescent population (Mobile Coach-Teen; MC-Teen).

Methods

11th and 12th graders (N=29) across the U.S. participated in a 12-week randomized control study. Participants downloaded either the MC-Teen or MC-Fit (attention control) mobile app. MC-Teen is an adaptation of the Swiss adolescent preventative alcohol intervention MC-Alcohol anchored in social cognitive theory. At baseline, all participants completed a survey that included demographic information and an alcohol use and risk assessment. Every two weeks participants rated the acceptability, usability, and level of engagement with MC-Teen using dichotomous, Likert-style and open-answer survey questions.

Findings

• The app was easy to install and use. The time to complete enrollment and the baseline survey was minimal (7 min and 42 s (SD = 135 s) and 95.9% of participants in MC-Teen and 92% of participants in MC-Fit reported opening the messages (MC-teen range across timepoints: read thoroughly 14-39%, took a quick look 46-79%).

• The content of MC-Teen was rated well: useful (71%-92%), enjoyable (75%-92%), and learned new information (54%-79%).

• Content delivery was also viewed relatively favorably: digital coach (mean score of at least 4 on a 1-7 Likert scale, 7 being most favorable) and application user experience (mean score of at least 2 on a 0-4 Likert scale, 4 being most favorable).

• The qualitative feedback revealed five areas for improvement: increased diversity of coach avatar options, more personalized content, more frequent communication, additional content, and additional features such as self-monitoring, bi-directional conversations, and a FAQ page.

• Next steps include implementing the changes based on feedback and updates to MobileCoach, evaluation in a larger RCT, and potentially separate culture/race/ethnicity content adaptation.

Relevance

• MC-Teen is an adolescent alcohol prevention intervention that sends 2-4 automated messages per week. Topics and timing are tailored based on user feedback of drinking behavior and responses to periodic questions.

• Favorable results were found for measures of feasibility and acceptability  indicating MC-Teen could be implemented without impacting workflow in academic or other institutions.

• Increased personalization, diversity in coach avatars, and adding elements of gamification may help increase engagement.

Read More

Clement A, Ravet M, Stanger C, Gabrielli J. (2024). Feasibility, usability, and acceptability of MobileCoach-Teen: A smartphone app-based preventative intervention for risky adolescent drinking behavior. J Subst Use Addict Treat, 159:209275. doi:10.1016/j.josat.2023.209275

This work was funded in part by the Pilot Core of the P30 Center of Excellence grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse [P30DA029926; PI Lisa A. Marsch]