Recruiting

AAT

Sponsor:

VA Office of Research and Development

Code:

NCT05372029

Conditions

Alcohol Use Disorder

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Approach Avoidance Training

Sham Training

Study Details

Brief summary:

The proposed study will test a novel treatment for alcohol use disorders (AUD) to determine if it helps Veterans reduce their hazardous drinking and recover from alcohol-related functional impairments across social, occupational, and domestic domains. To do so, the investigators will evaluate clinical, cognitive, and neural effects of a computer-delivered Approach Avoidance Training (AAT) treatment - which changes implicit tendencies to approach alcohol-related cues - in conjunction with standard VA care. The project will support RR\&D's mission to improve Veterans' participation in their lives and community by determining if this innovative alternative technique can improve recovery outcomes for Veterans with AUD and exploring how the intervention works.

Conditions

Alcohol Use Disorder

Study ID

NCT05372029

Start date

Feb 3, 2023

Status verified date

Aug, 2026

Completion date

Sep 30, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Sep 30, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • fluent in English
  • primary diagnosis of AUD with no more than 90 days abstinence from alcohol
  • 4-week stability if taking psychotropic medications

Exclusion Criteria:

  • lifetime history of psychotic or bipolar disorder
  • neurodegenerative or neurodevelopmental disorders
  • history of moderate or severe traumatic brain injury or other known neurological condition
  • sensory deficits that would preclude completing tasks
  • suicidal or homicidal ideation within the past month necessitating urgent higher level care
  • concurrent individual psychotherapy or other treatment outside of standard DDRP programming
  • conditions unsafe for completing MRI scanning for those completing the scanning component only (e.g., metal in body)

Study Design

Enrollment

176 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Approach Avoidance Training

AAT condition, participants use a joystick to respond to the color of the border surrounding the stimulus images presented (i.e., "pull for green, push for blue"). The stimuli used are alcohol-related images and neutral beverage images. To experimentally manipulate automatic action tendencies, a contingency is set between alcohol stimuli and avoidance behaviors

sham comparator: Sham Training

In the Sham participants use a joystick to respond to the color of the border surrounding stimulus images presented. There is no contingency between instruction type and pictures (i.e., non-training version of the task)

Interventions

Approach Avoidance Training

AAT condition, participants use a joystick to respond to the color of the border surrounding the stimulus images presented (i.e., "pull for green, push for blue"). The stimuli used are alcohol-related images and neutral beverage images. To experimentally manipulate automatic action tendencies, a contingency is set between alcohol stimuli and avoidance behaviors

Sham Training

In the Sham participants use a joystick to respond to the color of the border surrounding stimulus images presented. There is no contingency between instruction type and pictures (i.e., non-training version of the task)

Primary outcome measure

  • Change in the Drinker Inventory of Consequences (DrInC) [ Time Frame: Baseline, post (week 6), follow up 1 (3 mo.), followup 2 (6 mo.) ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Jessica A Bomyea, PhD

(858) 642-3720jessica.bomyea@va.gov

Andrea Spadoni Townsend, PhD

(858) 855-8585aspadoni@health.ucsd.edu

Locations

VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA

Recruiting

San Diego, California, United States, 92161-0002

Contacts

Jessica A Bomyea, PhD

(858) 642-3720jessica.bomyea@va.gov

Principal Investigator:

Jessica A Bomyea, PhD

More Information

Sponsor

VA Office of Research and Development

Last update posted

Aug 19, 2026

Last verified

Aug, 2026

Keywords

  • alcohol
  • cognitive training
  • intervention
  • neuroimaging

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by VA Office of Research and Development on 2026-08-19.