No Time Wasted: An Augmented Reality-based Game Focused on Alcohol Harm Reduction in Adolescents

Teenage alcohol use is associated with multiple adverse outcomes including poor school performance, drunk driving, other substance abuse, suicide attempts, dating violence, negative interpersonal interactions as well as deficits in verbal memory, visuospatial ability, and psychomotor speed. Developed for the Magic Leap One and funded by Epic Games/Unreal Engine Mega Award, the goal of this project is to develop an AR-based alcohol use prevention and harm reduction intervention, No Time Wasted, with the further aim of conducting a pre-post pilot study to assess whether the game reduce risk behaviors associated with alcohol use, whilst also increasing knowledge about some of the following topics: BAC, standard drink sizes, signs of alcohol poisoning. The intervention will also seek to encourage bystander intervention to assist fictional characters in need of help due to overdrinking.
We are currently finishing up game development and will be piloting the game with adolescents in the spring of 2023.