The CanCope Study is a micro-randomized trial conducted to gather evidence about and compare the effectiveness of a momentary intervention to help young adults cope with cannabis cravings as they attempt to reduce their use.
The CanCope Study is designed to test the effectiveness of two distinct strategies (mindfulness and distraction) to cope with cannabis cravings in young adults (19 - 25 years) who are attempting to reduce their cannabis use. Cannabis use is determined using a single-item question about the number of days out of the past 30 days the individual used cannabis. Young adults who reported using cannabis \>10 out of the past 30 days, who were not pregnant or breastfeeding, and who were not currently in treatment for problems related to substance use were eligible to enroll in this four-week study. The CanCope intervention was delivered to participants through the MetricWire app, which was available for download on the participants' personal smartphones. Participants were asked to complete five ecological momentary assessments (EMA) per day, which asked questions related to cannabis use including one question about current level of craving on a scale of 0 - 10. If a participant reported a craving level \>4, a message was sent via the app encouraging the participant to try a mindfulness or distraction coping strategy, or the participant received a thank-you for completing the EMA which served as an attention control.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
53
Messages prompted participants to use mindfulness-based or distraction-based coping strategies, or a thank-you message which served as an attention control. If participants reported elevated craving (4 or greater) prior to a decision point, they received either a coping strategy message or a control message. If participants reported craving levels of less than 4 they received a control message.
Center for Technology and Behavioral Health
Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States
Average Craving Level - Active vs. Control Messages
Participants were asked to rate their level of cannabis craving on a scale of 0 - 10 five times per day where higher scores indicate more craving. Participants were considered available for randomization when craving \>=4 and they clicked the intervention message in the study app. To determine the effect of messaging on craving, we will calculate the average craving level for each EMA eligible for intervention and randomized to receive an active coping strategy message or a control message. It was pre-specified based on a priori power analyses for this small pilot study to combine the "mindfulness-based coping strategies" and "distraction-based coping strategies" interventions in the "Active Message" Row". Craving levels will be averaged across randomized observations. There were up to 140 decision points (5 EMAs per day x 28 days) per participant for the intervention period.
Time frame: Minimum 2.8 hours after each decision point; Maximum 12.8 hours after each decision point
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