Wearable alcohol monitors for alcohol use data collection among college students: Feasibility and acceptability

Objective: We assessed the feasibility and acceptability of using BACtrack Skyn wearable alcohol monitors for alcohol research in a college student population.

Methods: We enrolled n = 5 (Sample 1) and n = 84 (Sample 2) Indiana University undergraduate students to wear BACtrack Skyn devices continuously over a 5-day to 7-day study period. We assessed feasibility in both samples by calculating compliance with study procedures, and by analyzing amount and distributions of device output [e.g., transdermal alcohol content (TAC), temperature, motion]. In Sample 1, we assessed feasibility and acceptability with the Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM) scale and the Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM) scale.

Results: All participants were able to successfully use the alcohol monitors, producing a total of 11,504 h of TAC data. TAC data were produced on 567 days of the 602 total possible days of data collection. The distribution of the TAC data showed between-person variation, as would be expected with between-person differences in drinking patterns. Temperature and motion data were also produced as expected. Sample 1 participants (n = 5) reported high feasibility and acceptability of the wearable alcohol monitors in survey responses with a mean FIM score of 4.3 (of 5.0 possible score) and mean AIM score of 4.3 (of 5.0 possible score).

Conclusions: The high feasibility and acceptability we observed underscore the promise of using BACtrack Skyn wearable alcohol monitors to improve our understanding of alcohol consumption among college students, a population at particularly high risk for alcohol-related harms.