mHealth Interventions to Reduce Alcohol Use in Young People: A Systematic Review of the Literature.
Alison Hutton, Ivanka Prichard, Dean Whitehead and 7 others
PMID 31192698WHAT IT FOUND
Mobile health interventions for young drinkers show inconsistent results.
While text messaging appeared most effective, many studies were small or varied in design. Clinicians should not assume apps or websites reliably reduce alcohol consumption without further evidence.
Key findings
01The review found substantial variation in intervention types and results, with ten studies reporting some effectiveness, three mixed results, and two showing no effectiveness.
02Text messaging (SMS) was identified as having the greatest efficacy among the reviewed interventions for this population.
03Overall, the evidence was insufficient to conclude that mHealth technology definitively influences behavior change, with alcohol consumption reduced in only nine of the eighteen studies.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
High variability in study designs, intervention lengths, and outcome measures made direct comparison and meta-analysis difficult. Many studies were small or had short follow-up periods, limiting conclusions about long-term effectiveness. Recruitment was heavily skewed toward school and university settings, which may not represent all young people, particularly those not in education. The review did not include studies on young people with known alcohol addiction, limiting applicability to clinical populations with diagnosed disorders. Generalizability of results is limited due to the heterogeneity of the included studies.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the positive findings for text messaging as proof that mHealth interventions reliably reduce alcohol consumption in all young people. The evidence is mixed, with several studies showing no effect or inconclusive results, and the review explicitly states that mHealth technology cannot be said to definitively influence behavior change.