The feasibility of assessing alcohol use among college students using wireless mobile devices: Implications for health education and behavioural research

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the feasibility of using wireless mobile devices (MDs) to collect daily alcohol information among college students, in particular examining feasibility in the context of costs associated with the use of wireless MDs. This study reports on practical aspects of using MDs to collect alcohol data, including compliance, technical success, user preferences for completing MD-based assessments, and cost.

Setting: The study took place at a large, public university in the south-eastern United States.

Design: A two-group, randomized design was used. A daily assessment of alcohol use administered using wireless MDs was completed by a group of college students (n=86) for 30 days and compared to a paper-based (PB) daily assessment of alcohol use completed by a second group of college students (n=83) over the same time period.

Results: Completion rates for the MD assessment (85.8 per cent) were comparable to the PB assessment (97.6 per cent) given the differences in mode of administration. Participants found the MDs easy to use (83.7 per cent), easy to read (94.2 per cent), and on average liked completing the daily MD assessment (M 4.47, SD 1.16) significantly more than respondents liked completing the PB assessment (M 3.88, SD 1.08; t [164] 3.84, p < 0.001). Few participants in the MD group reported that they were uncomfortable (9.3 per cent) or nervous (2.3 per cent) completing daily assessments using the MDs.

Conclusion: Results indicate that the feasibility of using MDs for data collection may be influenced by user preferences and should be tested on different health behaviours in more diverse populations.