# Risk for Alcohol Impaired Driving:  From the Laboratory to the Natural Environment

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA · 2020 · $597,844

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Despite previous success in reducing alcohol impaired driving (AID), rates of alcohol-related
motor vehicle crashes have not decreased significantly since the 1990s. Developing novel
approaches to prevention/intervention is likely required to produce further progress. Building on
laboratory findings from the original project (Acute Alcohol Effects on Impulsivity and Risk for
Drinking and Driving), the proposed project is designed to bring this work out of the lab and into
the natural drinking environment in which AID decisions are made. Participants will complete a
laboratory alcohol administration session followed by six weeks of multi-method ambulatory
assessment. The ambulatory assessment component will include participant report via
smartphone, transdermal alcohol concentration (TAC) using the BACtrack biosensor, and
location and movement data passively collected by the smartphone GPS/accelerometer. The
combination of these methods will allow for the integration of subjective (e.g., perceived
intoxication) and objective (e.g., TAC, calculated drinking location) data for each drinking
episode. Aim 1 of the project is to test laboratory measures as prospective predictors of AID and
examine the role of event-level influences on specific AID decisions.
 Aim 2 of the proposed project is to test the potential for a novel intervention to reduce AID
using mobile technology. Participants will be randomly assigned to either a full ambulatory
assessment or a minimal assessment control condition. The timing of the introduction of AA will
also be manipulated within the full ambulatory assessment condition. This design will allow us to
test whether the introduction of ambulatory assessment produces changes in AID behavior, as
well as whether such changes persist once ambulatory assessment is discontinued. Changes
made to the revised application are aimed at ensuring the achievement of both study aims. If
Aim 2 is achieved and ambulatory assessment alters AID behavior, the combination of the
minimal assessment control condition and the full assessment condition prior to the introduction
of ambulatory assessment has sufficient sample size and power to test Aim 1 hypotheses.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9940982
- **Project number:** 5R01AA019546-09
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA
- **Principal Investigator:** DENIS M MCCARTHY
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $597,844
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2010-04-15 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9940982

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9940982, Risk for Alcohol Impaired Driving:  From the Laboratory to the Natural Environment (5R01AA019546-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9940982. Licensed CC0.

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