Sending young adults text messages might be an effective way to reduce binge drinking and alcohol-related injuries, a new study suggests.
Further, the findings show the positive effects of the text message program continued six months after it ended.
“Given the low cost to send text messages and the capacity to deliver them to almost every at-risk young adult, a text message-based intervention targeting binge drinking could have a public health impact on reducing both immediate and long-term health problems,” says Brian Suffoletto, assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.
As reported in the journal PLOS ONE, the 12-week trial randomized more than 700 young adults into three groups. All of the adults, between the ages of 18 and 25, had been discharged from four urban emergency departments in western Pennsylvania.
