Symposia
Addictive Behaviors
Laura J. Holt, Ph.D.
Trinity College
West Hartford, Connecticut
Alison Looby, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming
Ty Schepis, PhD
Professor
Texas State University
San Marcos, Texas
Samuel Benton, None
Undergraduate Student
University of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming
Angela Delucia, undergraduate
undergraduate
Trinity College
Hartford, Connecticut
Alice Verdier, undergraduate
undergraduate
Trinity College
Hartford, Connecticut
Katherine Vrotsos, BA
Graduate Assistant
Texas State University
San Marcos, Texas
College students misuse and divert (i.e., give away, sell, or trade) prescription stimulants more often than any other class of prescription drugs. Diversion may lead students to go without needed medication to mitigate ADHD symptoms, increasing risk for unintentional injuries and substance use. Diversion perpetuates prescription stimulant misuse (PSM), which has become increasingly common among college students and is associated with other illicit drug use, lower GPA, insomnia, and cardiovascular complications.
As part of a NIDA-funded, multi-site randomized controlled trial, we partnered with Kognito, a health simulation company, to develop and test the usability and efficacy of a single-session, web-based simulation intervention designed to prevent prescription stimulant diversion and medication misuse. Our intervention, which targets college-attending adults with stimulant prescriptions, is grounded in social learning theory and the theory of planned behavior and uniquely engages students in interactive discussions with virtual humans to (a) learn about the prevalence of PSM and diversion and their related risks, (b) practice using refusal strategies when approached for their medication, and (c) understand how to effectively communicate with prescribers and avoid medication misuse.
We will discuss the intervention development and refinement process with Kognito and preliminary data on the intervention’s usability and usefulness. Participants receiving the active intervention thus far (n=39) report a high level of satisfaction with usability. The overall mean of 6.33 (SD=.70) on a 1-7 scale on the Post Study System Usability Questionnaire (Lewis et al., 2002) indicates that students found it easy to navigate the intervention and that the information was presented clearly and logically. Usefulness ratings also were high: the mean score of 3.95 (SD=.91) on a 1-5 scale on the Health Information Technology Usability Evaluation Scale (Schnall et al., 2018) suggests students believe the intervention would be useful for college students prescribed stimulants. Ratings of individual items from the HI-TUES showed that students found the information on how to deal with requests for their stimulant medication most useful; strategies for academic planning and communicating with one’s prescriber were rated as slightly less useful, although still above the midpoint of 3 (Ms=3.62 – 4.00). Provided the intervention is found to be efficacious, it may be a useful tool for mitigating stimulant misuse and diversion in prescribed students.