Using daily interactive voice response technology to measure drinking and related behaviors in a pharmacotherapy study.
BACKGROUND
Interactive voice response technology (IVR) allows investigators to collect daily measures of drinking, medication adherence, mood, and other treatment-relevant variables that may change day to day during a clinical trial. Despite these advantages, no published studies have used IVR in alcohol pharmacotherapy trials.


METHODS
Subjects provided daily data via IVR during the 12-week treatment period. Seven subjects completed the trial.


RESULTS
We found a high level of participant adherence to the IVR protocol, higher levels of drinking reported by IVR than by a commonly used recall method, and distinct within-day associations between daily mood and alcohol consumption: these could not be obtained through traditional assessment methods.


CONCLUSIONS
IVR seems to be feasible for the collection of daily indicators of treatment outcomes and processes in pharmacotherapy studies among problem drinkers.
Kranzler
Henry R
HR
Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. General Clinical Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut 06030-2103, USA. kranzler@psychiatry.uchc.edu
Abu-Hasaballah
Khamis
K
Tennen
Howard
H
Feinn
Richard
R
Young
Kevin
K
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009271:Naltrexone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014831:Voice
D009271:Naltrexone