# Social Media Intervention for Cannabis Use in Emerging Adults

> **NIH NIH R34** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2020 · $234,000

## Abstract

Project Summary
Cannabis use poses an important public health problem among emerging adults (EAs), given increasing
perceived acceptability and prevalence of cannabis use, combined with state-level legislation resulting in
increased access to legal cannabis. Although there are some promising cannabis intervention approaches for
college EAs, about half of EAs are not in college. Further, these interventions were developed prior to the
legalization of recreational cannabis use in 8 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. In recent years
engagement with social media has dramatically increased, with the majority of EAs accessing social media
platforms multiple times per day, exposing EAs to online peer influences, which are generally not addressed in
existing intervention programs. High levels of engagement with social media content provide a dynamic
platform to engage EAs in interventions for cannabis risk reduction. The specific aims of the proposed study
are to: 1) iteratively develop and focus test an 8-week social media-based intervention for cannabis use among
EAs and 2) test the preliminary efficacy of the intervention versus a 8-week control condition on cannabis-
related outcomes. We will use an iterative process to develop a social media-delivered 8-week “secret” group
intervention (i.e., other “friends” on the site cannot see membership or content) delivered by peer coaches
using the most popular social media platform among EAs (i.e., Facebook), with content pushed across other
platforms allowing private messaging (e.g., Twitter, Snapchat). Based on prior work, we will develop engaging,
user-generated content using crowdsourcing via Amazon's Mechanical Turk, followed by iterative focus testing
with participants from states where recreational cannabis is legal and where it remains illegal. The intervention
will harness peers as coaches to be positive influences, which is scalable given the availability of student
trainees and will focus on “up-stream” factors for cannabis use such as motives for use (e.g., stress/coping,
social), blending evidenced based approaches for cannabis risk reduction (e.g., motivational interviewing,
cognitive behavioral therapy strategies). The developed intervention will be tested in a pilot randomized
controlled trial versus an attention-placebo control (8-week social media news condition) among 18-25 year-old
EAs who regularly use cannabis (i.e., at least weekly). Groups will be conducted separately for EAs residing in
states with/without legal recreational cannabis. Outcomes will be measured at a 3-month post-test and 6-
month follow-up, with biological verification of drug use. As opposed to static web-based interventions with
limited shelf-life, the development of an adaptable, scalable and efficacious intervention for cannabis use
among EAs is a critical next step in public health efforts to reduce cannabis use/consequences. This study
could have significant impact by altering the cannabis use trajectorie...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9971492
- **Project number:** 5R34DA045067-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Erin E. Bonar
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $234,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-30 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9971492

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9971492, Social Media Intervention for Cannabis Use in Emerging Adults (5R34DA045067-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9971492. Licensed CC0.

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