Creating a psychosocial intervention combining growth mindset and implementation intentions (GMII) to reduce alcohol consumption: A mixed method approach.

This work aimed at creating a psychosocial intervention based on growth mindset theory and implementation intention strategies, in order to reduce alcohol consumption among users in the general population, and the clinical population of individuals with alcohol use disorder. A mixed method approach was used, combining qualitative and quantitative research methods among both populations. Four focus groups were first conducted to extract arguments in favor of a malleable view of alcohol consumption (study 1A), situations that trigger the desire to drink alcohol, as well as strategies used by people to counteract this need (study 1B). Data were analyzed using reflective thematic analysis in line with the scientific literature on alcohol consumption. The results were used to create a questionnaire scoring the relevance of each argument, situation and strategy (study 2). The 20 best scored arguments, situations and strategies were selected to create the intervention. The created intervention consisted in a popularized scientific article describing alcohol consumption as malleable, including the selected arguments and followed by two internalization exercises. Then, a volitional help sheet included the selected situations and solutions was presented, allowing forming up to three plans. The discussion focused on the added value of the created material compared to pre-existing tools in the literature, and presents plans to test the intervention in a future study.

A prevention program for binge drinking among students based on mindfulness and implementation intention (ALCOMEDIIT): a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The emergence of new problematic alcohol consumption practices among young people requires new dynamics in prevention strategies. In this context, the ADUC project (Alcohol and Drugs at the University of Caen) aims to develop a better understanding of alcohol consumption, and in particular the practice of binge drinking (BD) in students, in order to develop relevant and adapted prevention tools. The ALCOMEDIIT study (Rin Normandie and IRESP funding; Agreement 20II31-00 - ADUC part 3) is a randomized controlled trial that focuses on the specific determinant of impulsivity. The main objective of this experiment is to assess a program for the prevention of BD practices based on motivational interviewing (MI) associated with implementation intention (II) and mindfulness meditation (MBM) in a student environment. METHODS: This study will include 170 healthy subjects who will be students at the university, alcohol users, with a BD score > 1 in the month preceding the inclusion but not presenting any specific disorder. The trial will be proposed by e-mail and students who meet the inclusion criteria will join either a control group which will benefit from a MI or an experimental group which will additionally benefit from an initiation to MBM with II (initial visit T0). In order to measure the effectiveness of the prevention program in terms of BD decrease, a follow-up at 1 month (T1) as well as a follow-up at 6 months (T6; exploratory) will be proposed to all participants. The total duration of this research protocol is 21 months. DISCUSSION: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the interest of associating mindfulness meditation practices and implementation of self-regulation strategies to optimize their use, with a motivational interview in an innovative prevention program aiming at reducing alcohol use and BD practice in the student population. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05565989, September 30, 2022. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05565989 Protocol version 2.0 (September 2022) No. ID-RCB: 2022-A00983-40.

More than planned: Implementation intention effects in non-planned situations.

Forming implementation intentions (i.e., if-then planning) is a powerful self-regulation strategy that enhances goal attainment by facilitating the automatic initiation of goal-directed responses upon encountering critical situations. Yet, little is known about the consequences of forming implementation intentions for goal attainment in situations that were not specified in the if-then plan. In three experiments, we assessed goal attainment in terms of speed and accuracy in an object classification task, focusing on situations that were similar or dissimilar to critical situations and required planned or different responses. The results of Experiments 1 and 3 provide evidence for a facilitation of planned responses in critical and in sufficiently similar situations, enhancing goal attainment when the planned response was required and impairing it otherwise. In Experiment 3, additional unfavorable effects however emerged in situations that were dissimilar to the critical one but required the planned response as well. We discuss theoretical implications as well as potential benefits and pitfalls emerging from these non-planned effects of forming implementation intentions.