Alcohol ConsumptionGLOSSNCT06126107
Gain and Loss Framed Text Messaging to Reduce Drinking Among Older Adults
A study testing Brief Normative Feedback, Loss-framed Text-messaging and Gain-framed Text-messaging in people with Alcohol Consumption, run by Hunter College of City University of New York at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
The goal of this study is to evaluate effectiveness of scalable, tailored text- messaging programs for alcohol use among older adults. This study focuses on gain and loss framing of behavior change goals (i.e., the positives of change and the negatives of remaining with the status quo), critical components of… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 50 to 85 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Alcohol Consumption
- What is being tested?
- Brief Normative Feedback, Loss-framed Text-messaging and Gain-framed Text-messaging
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 133 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 26 Feb 2024to 10 Dec 2024
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 50 to 85 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Be fluent in and able to read English at the eighth grade level
- Between the ages 50 and 85
- Have an estimated average weekly consumption of greater than, for women and men 65 and older, 12, or for men 64 and younger, 15 standard drinks per week
- Be willing to reduce their drinking to non-hazardous levels
- Be willing to provide informed consent
- Own a mobile phone with SMS capability and have an active email address.
- Be willing to receive and respond to up to 120 text messages total per month, as well as four online, web- based surveys.
Who cannot join
- Demonstrate physiological dependence on alcohol, as evidenced by current or a history of serious physical withdrawal symptoms (e.g., measured by SAWS)
- Present with significant substance use (greater than weekly use) or a current substance use disorder (for any substance other than alcohol, nicotine, or caffeine, measured by self report on Form-90 based questions)
- Present with a serious psychiatric illness or suicide risk, as measured by previous inpatient treatment, medications for mood disorder or psychosis, recent suicidality, and the PHQ-9.
- Unable to understand research study procedures as evidenced by failing a short quiz at the end of reviewing the consent form.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
The goal of this study is to evaluate effectiveness of scalable, tailored text- messaging programs for alcohol use among older adults. This study focuses on gain and loss framing of behavior change goals (i.e., the positives of change and the negatives of remaining with the status quo), critical components of behavioral science and health behavioral interventions. Loss-framing is used to motivate individuals to avoid future problems by focusing on the consequences of no change in behavior, and gain-framing is used to facilitate progress by focusing on the benefits of change. The investigators will design and evaluate three text-messaging programs using a randomized controlled trial: (A) Loss-framed messaging (B) Gain-framed messaging; and (C) Combined (loss and gain) messaging among a sample of 150 older adults with hazardous drinking. Participants will be randomized to one of the three conditions, each of which will include 8 weeks of text-messaging. During the study participants will completed assessments online and via text messages to track drinking.
Read the detailed description
There is an urgent call for efficient and effective assessment, prevention, and intervention among older adults (age 50 and older) to reduce health risk of hazardous drinking, encourage healthy aging, and reduce burden on healthcare systems. Brief, low-burden, low-cost, digital interventions among older adults can answer this call. Text-messaging health interventions are considered an effective, scalable way to deliver behavioral health interventions, and they have been used as evidence-based solutions in primary care settings among older adults for behaviors other than alcohol use to supplement traditional care. Contrary to stereotypes, older adults use mobile technology, seek online and mobile interventions, and often engage longer compared to younger populations. The primary objective of the proposed study is to evaluate effectiveness of scalable, tailored text- messaging programs for alcohol use among older adults. This study focuses on gain and loss framing of behavior change goals (i.e., the positives of change and the negatives of remaining with the status quo), critical components of behavioral science and health behavioral interventions. Loss-framing is used to motivate individuals to avoid future problems by focusing on the consequences of no change in behavior, and gain-framing is used to facilitate progress by focusing on the benefits of change. The investigators will design and evaluate three text-messaging programs using a randomized controlled trial: (A) Loss-framed messaging (B) Gain-framed messaging; and (C) Combined (loss and gain) messaging among a sample of 150 older adults with hazardous drinking. Participants will be randomized to one of the three conditions, each of which will last 8 weeks. Participants will undergo cross- sectional online assessments (baseline, week 4, week 8 and week 16), and they will also complete a mobile assessment (via text message) once per week to track drinking. The effects of condition on drinking behavior will be compared at weeks 4, 8 and 16. In addition, attrition from the study will be closely tracked. Finally, the investigators will explore how the effects condition are impacted by gender and age (via moderation analysis).
- Conditions
- Alcohol Consumption
- Being tested
- Brief Normative Feedback, Loss-framed Text-messaging, Gain-framed Text-messaging
- Keywords
- Mobile Health, Text messaging, Behavioral economics, older adults
- Medical subject headings
- Alcohol Drinking
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Brief Normative FeedbackBehavioural
Once a participant has completed the assessment of their drinking during the baseline battery, the participant will receive brief normative feedback about how their drinking compares to their peers.
Loss-framed Text-messagingBehavioural
Daily text-messages on the consequence of hazardous drinking.
Gain-framed Text-messagingBehavioural
Daily text messages on the benefits of reducing drinking to safe guidelines.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Loss-framed Messaging | Active comparator | Daily text messages on the consequences of hazardous drinking (e.g., "Think of all you have lost as a result of drinking too much. Make today a day that sets the stage for change.") Receives: Behavioral: Brief Normative Feedback; Behavioral: Loss-framed Text-messaging |
| Gain-framed Messaging | Active comparator | Daily text messages on the benefits of reducing drinking to safe guidelines (e.g., "Think of all you can achieve if you can control your drinking. Make today a day that sets the stage for change.") Receives: Behavioral: Brief Normative Feedback; Behavioral: Gain-framed Text-messaging |
| Gain-framed and Loss-framed Messaging | Active comparator | Daily text messages that alternate between loss-framed (e.g., "Think of all you have lost as a result of drinking too much. Make today a day that sets the stage for change.") and gain-framed messaging (e.g., "Think of all you can achieve if you can control your drinking. Make today a day that sets the stage for change.") Receives: Behavioral: Brief Normative Feedback; Behavioral: Loss-framed Text-messaging; Behavioral: Gain-framed Text-messaging |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Weekly sum of standard drinks
Measure 1 of drinking, average of weekly sum of standard drinks
Measured: baseline, week 4, week 8, and week 16
Weekly sum of heavy drinking days
Measure 2 of drinking, average of weekly heavy drinking days
Measured: baseline, week 4, week 8, and week 16
Secondary outcomes (3)
Percent adherence to daily drinking assessment via text messages
Responses to text messages (via text message) are considered "adherence" to the daily drinking assessment. This measure is akin to compliance.
Measured: once daily, starting at baseline, lasting for 8 weeks
Percent adherence to weekly drinking assessment via web
Responses to text messages (via text message) are considered "adherence" to the weekly drinking assessment. This measure is akin to compliance.
Measured: once weekly, starting at baseline, lasting 8 weeks
Percent willingness to continue the program for another 8 weeks
Participants are asked, "would you like to continue to receive text messages for the next 8 weeks?" If participants report yes, that is willingness to continue in the program. If no, then participants are not willing to continue in the program.
Measured: At week 8 assessment
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted13 Nov 2023
- Study start26 Feb 2024
- Primary completion10 Dec 2024
- Study completion10 Dec 2024
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Alcohol ConsumptionStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- Participants will be urn randomized according to gender, age and intensity of drinking to the three conditions collected at screening. They will be assigned to one of 3 text-messaging programs.
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Participant
- Enrolment
- 133 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Hunter College of City University of New York
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Alexis Kuerbis, LCSW, PhD, Principal investigator, Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College City, University of New York
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06126107
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 2023-0653-Hunter
- Acronym
- GLOSS
- Status last verified
- Mar 2025
- First submitted
- 1 Nov 2023
- Last updated
- 13 Mar 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 13 Mar 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Gain and Loss Framed Text Messaging to Reduce Drinking Among Older Adults
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06126107
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- GLOSS / 2023-0653-Hunter
- Conditions
- Alcohol Consumption
- Keywords
- Mobile Health, Text messaging, Behavioral economics, older adults
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 133 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Hunter College of City University of New YorkUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 26 Feb 2024 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 10 Dec 2024 (actual)
- Study completion
- 10 Dec 2024 (actual)
- First posted
- 13 Nov 2023 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The goal of this study is to evaluate effectiveness of scalable, tailored text- messaging programs for alcohol use among older adults. This study focuses on gain and loss framing of behavior change goals (i.e., the positives of change and the negatives of remaining with the status quo), critical components of behavioral science and health behavioral interventions. Loss-framing is used to motivate individuals to avoid future problems by focusing on the consequences of no change in behavior, and gain-framing is used to facilitate progress by focusing on the benefits of change. The investigators will design and evaluate three text-messaging programs using a randomized controlled trial: (A) Loss-framed messaging (B) Gain-framed messaging; and (C) Combined (loss and gain) messaging among a sample of 150 older adults with hazardous drinking. Participants will be randomized to one of the three conditions, each of which will include 8 weeks of text-messaging. During the study participants will completed assessments online and via text messages to track drinking.
Detailed description
There is an urgent call for efficient and effective assessment, prevention, and intervention among older adults (age 50 and older) to reduce health risk of hazardous drinking, encourage healthy aging, and reduce burden on healthcare systems. Brief, low-burden, low-cost, digital interventions among older adults can answer this call. Text-messaging health interventions are considered an effective, scalable way to deliver behavioral health interventions, and they have been used as evidence-based solutions in primary care settings among older adults for behaviors other than alcohol use to supplement traditional care. Contrary to stereotypes, older adults use mobile technology, seek online and mobile interventions, and often engage longer compared to younger populations. The primary objective of the proposed study is to evaluate effectiveness of scalable, tailored text- messaging programs for alcohol use among older adults. This study focuses on gain and loss framing of behavior change goals (i.e., the positives of change and the negatives of remaining with the status quo), critical components of behavioral science and health behavioral interventions. Loss-framing is used to motivate individuals to avoid future problems by focusing on the consequences of no change in behavior, and gain-framing is used to facilitate progress by focusing on the benefits of change. The investigators will design and evaluate three text-messaging programs using a randomized controlled trial: (A) Loss-framed messaging (B) Gain-framed messaging; and (C) Combined (loss and gain) messaging among a sample of 150 older adults with hazardous drinking. Participants will be randomized to one of the three conditions, each of which will last 8 weeks. Participants will undergo cross- sectional online assessments (baseline, week 4, week 8 and week 16), and they will also complete a mobile assessment (via text message) once per week to track drinking. The effects of condition on drinking behavior will be compared at weeks 4, 8 and 16. In addition, attrition from the study will be closely tracked. Finally, the investigators will explore how the effects condition are impacted by gender and age (via moderation analysis).
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (participant)
- Number of arms
- 3
- Model description
- Participants will be urn randomized according to gender, age and intensity of drinking to the three conditions collected at screening. They will be assigned to one of 3 text-messaging programs.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Loss-framed Messaging | Active comparator | Behavioral: Brief Normative Feedback, Behavioral: Loss-framed Text-messagingDaily text messages on the consequences of hazardous drinking (e.g., "Think of all you have lost as a result of drinking too much. Make today a day that sets the stage for change.") |
| Gain-framed Messaging | Active comparator | Behavioral: Brief Normative Feedback, Behavioral: Gain-framed Text-messagingDaily text messages on the benefits of reducing drinking to safe guidelines (e.g., "Think of all you can achieve if you can control your drinking. Make today a day that sets the stage for change.") |
| Gain-framed and Loss-framed Messaging | Active comparator | Behavioral: Brief Normative Feedback, Behavioral: Loss-framed Text-messaging, Behavioral: Gain-framed Text-messagingDaily text messages that alternate between loss-framed (e.g., "Think of all you have lost as a result of drinking too much. Make today a day that sets the stage for change.") and gain-framed messaging (e.g., "Think of all you can achieve if you can control your drinking. Make today a day that sets the stage for change.") |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 50 to 85 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (7 listed)
- Be fluent in and able to read English at the eighth grade level
- Between the ages 50 and 85
- Have an estimated average weekly consumption of greater than, for women and men 65 and older, 12, or for men 64 and younger, 15 standard drinks per week
- Be willing to reduce their drinking to non-hazardous levels
- Be willing to provide informed consent
Key exclusion criteria (4 listed)
- Demonstrate physiological dependence on alcohol, as evidenced by current or a history of serious physical withdrawal symptoms (e.g., measured by SAWS)
- Present with significant substance use (greater than weekly use) or a current substance use disorder (for any substance other than alcohol, nicotine, or caffeine, measured by self report on Form-90 based questions)
- Present with a serious psychiatric illness or suicide risk, as measured by previous inpatient treatment, medications for mood disorder or psychosis, recent suicidality, and the PHQ-9.
- Unable to understand research study procedures as evidenced by failing a short quiz at the end of reviewing the consent form.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Brief Normative FeedbackOnce a participant has completed the assessment of their drinking during the baseline battery, the participant will receive brief normative feedback about how their drinking compares to their peers. | Behavioural | Gain-framed Messaging, Gain-framed and Loss-framed Messaging, Loss-framed Messaging |
| Loss-framed Text-messagingDaily text-messages on the consequence of hazardous drinking. | Behavioural | Gain-framed and Loss-framed Messaging, Loss-framed Messaging |
| Gain-framed Text-messagingDaily text messages on the benefits of reducing drinking to safe guidelines. | Behavioural | Gain-framed Messaging, Gain-framed and Loss-framed Messaging |
Primary outcome
Weekly sum of standard drinks
Time frame: baseline, week 4, week 8, and week 16
Measure 1 of drinking, average of weekly sum of standard drinks
Weekly sum of heavy drinking days
Time frame: baseline, week 4, week 8, and week 16
Measure 2 of drinking, average of weekly heavy drinking days
3 secondary outcomes
Percent adherence to daily drinking assessment via text messages
Time frame: once daily, starting at baseline, lasting for 8 weeks
Percent adherence to weekly drinking assessment via web
Time frame: once weekly, starting at baseline, lasting 8 weeks
Percent willingness to continue the program for another 8 weeks
Time frame: At week 8 assessment
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 13 Mar 2025.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Alexis Kuerbis, LCSW, PhD principal investigator
Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College City, University of New York
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Brief Normative Feedback, Loss-framed Text-messaging and Gain-framed Text-messaging in people with Alcohol Consumption, run by Hunter College of City University of New York at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 7 inclusion and 4 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 13 Mar 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Weekly sum of standard drinks (time frame: baseline, week 4, week 8, and week 16). The study lists 2 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 13 Mar 2025; AzTrials last refreshed its copy on 31 Oct 2026.