Brief Interventions for Heavy College Drinkers: Randomized Clinical Trial to Investigate Comparable Efficacy of Two Active Conditions

• Main Author: Kulesza, Magdalena
• Other Authors: Elliott, Emily
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: LSU 2011
• Subjects: Psychology
• Online Access: http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-06282011-161247/

Brief interventions for college heavy drinkers have shown promise in reducing drinking and related negative consequences. However, since duration of the intervention, content, method of delivery, and duration of the follow up period vary across studies, we do not know whether length of the intervention has an impact on its effectiveness. In the present study, we conducted a randomized trial systematically evaluating efficacy of two brief interventions aimed at reducing alcohol use and consequences among college student drinkers. In addition, we evaluated treatment mediators and moderators. We randomly assigned 278 heavy drinking students to a 10-minute brief intervention, a 50-minute brief intervention, or attention-control group. Both interventions were provided by clinical graduate students trained in Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) and included personalized feedback on alcohol consumption including information about norms, effects of alcohol and advice on ways to reduce risks associated with drinking. As hypothesized, both active conditions were more efficacious than the control in reduction of alcohol consumption. However, we did not achieve the same results for alcohol-related problems. In addition, hypothesized mediators of intervention efficacy were partially supported. Specifically while our results supported alcohol drinking norms and coping behavioral strategies as mediators, we did not find support for self-efficacy nor for alcohol expectancies. Moreover, hypothesized moderators of interventions efficacy (i.e. gender, readiness to change, and drinking motives) were not supported either. Given the preliminary nature of our investigation, more research is warranted in this area.