[CRAVE]: Craving Reduction Strategies to Decrease Alcohol Consumption
Research type
Research Study
Full title
[CRAVE]: Craving Reduction strategies to decrease Alcohol consumption: eValuating the feasibility of Episodic future thinking and tetris.
IRAS ID
323878
Contact name
Tim Meynen
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
Many people who have problems associated with alcohol use regularly experience cravings, an urge or desire of wanting to consume alcohol. One psychological theory has positioned cravings as a cycle of triggers, spontaneous thoughts, and mental imagery. Once thoughts are elaborated, associated imagery sustains desire, motivating alcohol consumption.
Research has started to explore ways to interrupt this cycle. For example, competing tasks that influence the visual component of our working memory have found to reduce attention, cravings, and alcohol use. Initial findings have shown visual strategies, such as distraction tasks (like Tetris) and alternative mental imagery (imagining other non-alcohol-related motivational situations), are helpful in reducing cravings in the short term. Despite these encouraging findings there is limited research on whether service users find these strategies helpful and effective over a longer time period.
In this study, we are interested in whether service-users find these strategies easy to remember and helpful in reducing alcohol-related cravings over time. The two strategies we are investigating are a) Tetris – a puzzle game that acts as a distraction task to alleviate craving; and b) Episodic Future Thinking (EFT) – a mental imagery task that uses an individual's imagination to simulate a meaningful future experience across multiple periods, known as 'episodes'. These episodes provide a positive motivational alternative to using alcohol.
Participants will be screened before being invited to complete a training session for one of the two strategies. During training, participants will complete self-report questionnaires, learn how to use EFT or Tetris, and given the opportunity to practice these in the moment with a task that induces cravings. Participants will then be encouraged to continue to practice these strategies over two weeks in their day-to-day life. A second session will be held afterward to complete the same measures again and evaluate how acceptable the strategy was.
REC name
South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/SC/0280
Date of REC Opinion
14 Aug 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion