Text Reminders Cut Binge Drinking in At-Risk Recipients

短信戒酒

Heavy drinkers age 18 to 25 who got texts before and after each weekend about their weekend drinking plans cut their alcohol intake compared with those who got no texts or more perfunctory texts

在18-25岁的酗酒者中，相比没有收到短信或是收到敷衍了事文字的酗酒者，每周的开始和结束收到问及喝酒计划的文字短信的喝的更少。

撰文/播音 伊莱卡·巴拉斯(Erika Beras)

翻译 Meatle

审校 邰伦玥

Young people may seem like they’re attached to their phones—and that whatever’s on their screens is more important than what’s actually happening right in front of them. Now scientists may have found a way to make a positive out of that screen addiction, by using it to cut down on alcohol abuse. They report their findings in the journal PLoS ONE. [Brian Suffoletto et al, An Interactive Text Message Intervention to Reduce Binge Drinking in Young Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial with 9-Month Outcomes]

The researchers examined medical records and identified some 800 18- to 25-year-olds who had all self-identified in surveys as binge drinkers or heavy drinkers. They had all also been admitted to emergency rooms with, for the most part, non-alcohol related injuries.

年轻人仿佛变成了手机屏幕的奴隶，以至于在屏幕中的事物仿佛比身边的事更为重要。现在，科学家或许找到了这种屏幕上瘾的一个好处，那就是用这种方法缓解酗酒。该项研究发表在《公共科学图书馆期刊》上。

The investigators divided the subjects into three groups. For twelve weeks, one group got messages on Sunday asking how much they drank, and received no additional feedback. A second group did not get any texts. But a third group received texts every Thursday asking about their weekend drinking plans. That group then got feedback designed to help them limit their drinking. On Sundays they received a follow-up check-in text and more tailored feedback.

研究人员把应试者分成了三组。在12周中，第一组应试者在周日会收到问及这周他们喝了多少短信，但不会收到任何回复。第二组对象不会收到任何短信。第三组参与者每周四会收到问及他们本周喝酒计划的短信。然后他们会收到旨在帮助他们减少喝酒的回复。在周末他们会收到后续的调查信息与更多的量身订造的反馈。 

Lead researcher Brian Suffoletto of the University of Pittsburgh says they used texts rather than phone calls or emails because of its immediacy, and because "it really allows us to communicate behind the veil of some anonymity. So when you're face to face with an individual it's been shown that people are less likely to tell you bad things about themselves because they feel nervous that you would judge them."

匹兹堡大学的首席研究员布莱恩·苏珂黎托说，他们使用文字信息而不是电话或是邮件交流是因为时效性，也因为“那确实使到我们联系到匿名的人。而当你面对面地与他们沟通的时候，他们更少可能会说自己不好的方面，因为他们担心你会对他们有看法。”

And the results seem to have vindicated that strategy. Six months after the study, members of the little or no interaction groups said they had not reduced their drinking at all. But those who had had gotten all the texts and feedback reported an average of one less binge drinking day per month. They appear to at least partially have gotten the message.

这项研究的结果正好证明了上述的策略。研究开展后过去了6个月，没有或很少收到互动的两组参与者完全没有减少喝酒的量。然而，那些收到文字信息与反馈的参与者平均每月减少了一天的酗酒时间。至少他们似乎了解了部分的信息。