Improving Remote Breathalyzer Procedures Used by Clinicians and Researchers to Remotely Monitor Alcohol Use
University of North Texas, Denton, TX
Summary
Remote breath alcohol monitors have been increasingly adopted for use in clinical, research and forensic settings to monitor alcohol use because they offer several key advantages over other available monitoring methods. However, it remains unknown if remote breathalyzers reliably detect alcohol use because there is up to a 10-hour window of time when breath samples are not obtained (to allow for sleeping). Additionally, the investigators will examine whether a supplemental measurement of a blood alcohol use biomarker (phosphatidylethanol) can confirm abstinence and/or detect individuals engaging in late-evening drinking to avoid the negative consequences associated with detected alcohol use.
Description
Devices that can continuously and/or remotely monitor alcohol use have created new opportunities for both research and intervention, initially with transdermal alcohol monitors (TAMs) that continuously and remotely detect alcohol excreted through the skin. TAMs were first designed and used in the criminal justice system, but their disadvantages have limited widespread adoption (e.g., availability, cost, size, interference with physical activities, and stigma) (Allessi et al., 2017; Caluzzi et al., 2019). Thus, other alcohol monitoring technologies (and procedures) to detect and characterize al…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 21+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not specified
Inclusion Criteria: •≥ 21 years of age •Either convicted of a DWI offense in the past 2 years but not court-mandated to undergo continuous alcohol monitoring or reporting driving while intoxicated in the past year or report ≥ 10 heavy drinking episodes during the past month (heavy drinking episodes count as more than 3 drinks in a day for females and 4 or more alcoholic drinks in a day in a male).
Interventions
- OtherMonitoring
Participants will be monitored for alcohol use.
Location
- University of North TexasDenton, Texas