Nutrition and Lifestyle Modifications to an Internet-based Treatment for Alcohol Misuse

INTERVENTION: The current study aims to evaluate the efficacy of adding a nutrition and healthy lifestyle component to an existing online alcohol treatment program for people who are drinking alcohol at harmful levels. This study is a randomised controlled trial with 3 comparison treatments, each with approximately 50 participants, who will be followed up for 6 months. The 3 treatments that will be compared are: 1. OnTrack Participants (OTP) – The Ontrack Alcohol program includes the following components: a step by step guide, a personal diary for recording drinking + mood, graphs, interactive tools, summary pages ‐ and the following modules: Making Plans, First Steps, Closing a Risky Track, Taking Care in Risky Situations, Developing a Close Relationship, Building a New Life. These modules take approximately 90 minutes to complete. 2. OnTrack plus Newsletter Support (OTNS) – This group consists of OnTrack participants, who are also receiving an additional six emailed newsletters about their use of the OnTrack program. Newsletters are emailed to participants on a weekly basis, beginning in week 2. Participants will be asked to respond to these emails. If there is no response this is followed up with email and phone call if necessary to check that the newsletters are being received. The option to stop these follow up emails will be given to the participants. 3. OnTrack plus Healthy Living (OTHL) ‐– This group consists of OnTrack participants, who are also receiving an additional six emailed newsletters about their use of the OnTrack program and information and ideas aimed at being healthy. Specifically, this entails suggestions and advice aimed at encouraging healthier eating and more walking activities. Newsletters are emailed to participants on a weekly basis, beginning in week 2. Participants will be asked to respond to these emails. If there is no response this is followed up with email and phone call if necessary to check that the newsletters are being received. The option to stop these follow up emails will be given to the participants. Following recruitment, participants are randomly assigned to the OnTrack treatment (OTP) condition, the OnTrack plus Newsletter Support (OTNS) treatment, or the OnTrack Healthy Living (OTHL) condition. Participants in all three groups are encouraged to access the site as often as they want and to work through the program at their own pace. Participants can come back to the program and work through the activities as many times as they like. Participants in all three groups are sent automated reminder emails if they haven't logged onto the Ontrack program in 14 days. The database allows Ontrack administrators to assess the number of times people have logged in, the duration of their use of the program and the number of pages visited. Duration of intervention period for all groups is 3 months. Primary assessments will occur at Baseline, 3, and 6 months. Primary predictions are that: (1) OTHL interventions will have superior alcohol outcomes at 3 and 6 months, compared with OTP and OTNS, and (2) OTHL will elicit greater client satisfaction and completion rate than OTP and OTNS. CONDITION: Alcohol Misuse PRIMARY OUTCOME: Alcohol consumption, measured with the Timeline Followback method SECONDARY OUTCOME: Diet, measured with the Diet Quality Tool (DQT). Physical Activity, measured with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). INCLUSION CRITERIA: Participants must report a weekly alcohol consumption over the previous month of >14 standard drinks/week for both men and women. Participants must have sufficient English to complete treatment and assessments without translation and be able and willing to access the internet and email or text messages.