Drinks:Ration for female Veterans

This project will be the next stage in development of the Drinks:Ration app. This is a brief 28-day alcohol intervention app that was designed to help ex-Service personnel track their alcohol consumption and was previously successfully trialled and shown to be efficacious in helping users reduce alcohol consumption. The app targets each individuals motivations and encourages positive behavioural change through personalised messaging and data-driven infographics. 

This project seeks to adapt the Drinks:Ration app to consider the female Veteran perspective and develop content and algorithms that specifically target beliefs and motivations in this population. It is hypothesised that targeting these beliefs and motivations through personalised content could reduce female Veteran drinking and negative health outcomes.

• Initially the Drinks:Ration platform will be adapted through modification to the app content and development of tailored support resources and personalised messaging via desk-based research and focus groups with stakeholders and female Veterans.
• The team will refine and develop novel algorithms to automate the delivery of personalised messaging building upon the current implementation, and the content of the messaging, to ensure it is tailored to female veterans.
• Evaluation of the efficacy of the adapted platform for female Veterans via a confirmatory Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), with a 28-day follow-up. 

• How can the Drinks:Ration App be adapted and developed to meet the needs of female Veterans?
• What is the efficacy of the adapted Drinks:Ration platform for female Veterans?

This trial aims to recruit 106 female Veterans overall.