Disorders - Alcohol Use
O'Farrell, A., Kingsland, M., Kenny, S., Eldin, N., Wiggers, J., Wolfenden, L., Allwright, S.
INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Alcohol misuse and harm are more prevalent amongst sports people than non-sports people. Few studies have trialled interventions to address alcohol misuse for this group. The study aimed to test the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce alcohol misuse and related harms amongst amateur sports people in Ireland.
DESIGN AND METHODS: A controlled trial was conducted in two counties in Ireland. A random selection of sports clubs in one county received a 4 month multi-faceted intervention. All sports clubs in a non-adjacent county acted as control sites. Consumption of more than 21 units of alcohol per week and six or more standard drinks on a single occasion at least once per week was the primary study outcome. Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test scores and number of alcohol-related harms were also reported. Outcomes were assessed for cross-sectional samples of players at pre-intervention and post-intervention and paired samples of players who completed surveys at both times. Generalised linear mixed model analysis was used.
RESULTS: There was no evidence of effect for the primary outcomes or Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test scores. There was a statistically significant difference in the median number of alcohol-related harms reported by intervention group players compared with control group players at post-intervention for the paired samples [intervention: 0; control: 3; incident rate ratio 0.56 (0.37, 0.84); P = 0.005].
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Intervention in community sports clubs may be effective in reducing the number of alcohol-related harms. Low levels of intervention participation and inadequate intervention dose are possible reasons for lack of a broader intervention effect. [O'Farrell A, Kingsland M, Kenny S, Eldin N, Wiggers J, Wolfenden L, Allwright S. A multi-faceted intervention to reduce alcohol misuse and harm amongst sports people in Ireland: A controlled trial. Drug Alcohol Rev 2018;37:14-22].
Drug & Alcohol Review, 37(1) : 14-22
- Year: 2018
- Problem: Alcohol Use
- Type: Controlled clinical trials
-
Stage: Universal prevention
, At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions (any)
, Psychoeducation, Other Psychological Interventions
Baldin, Y. C., Sanudo, A., Sanchez, Z. M.
OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of a web-based intervention in reducing binge drinking among nightclub patrons after six months.
Revista de Saude Publica, 52 : 2
- Year: 2018
- Problem: Alcohol Use
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Service Delivery & Improvement, Psychological Interventions (any)
, Personalised feedback, normative feedback
, Technology, interventions delivered using technology (e.g. online, SMS)
Bedendo, A., Andrade, A. L. M., Souza-Formigoni, M. L. O., Noto, A. R.
Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of an internet-based Personalized Normative Feedback (PNF) and its components: Normative Feedback (NF) and Consequences Feedback (CF) in the reduction of alcohol consumption and associated problems among university students. Methods: Pragmatic randomized controlled trial with follow-up assessments after 1, 3 and 6 months conducted with college students, aged 18-30 years who reported alcohol use in the previous 3 months.We used a dismantling design and the participants were randomized (n = 46,142) into one out of four groups: (1) Control Group (CG), who were only submitted to assessment; (2) PNF; (3) NF and (4) CF. The complete version of the intervention presented data on: (1) drinking profile; (2) normative comparisons; (3) alcohol consequences; (4) practical costs (financial expenditure and caloric consumption) and (5) strategies to decrease risks. The outcomes were the AUDIT scores; the number of consequences; themaximum number of drinks; the frequency of use and the number of typical drinks. Statistical analysis used Generalized Linear Mixed Models to evaluate the effects of intervention and its components through two paradigms: observed cases and attrition models (Multiple Imputation and Pattern-mixturemodel). Results: 8,211 participants accessed at least one follow-up. Compared to CG, the PNF group presented a higher reduction in the typical drinks after 1 and 3 months and in the maximum number of drinks after 1 month (observed cases and attrition models). Effectiveness: NF present a higher reduction of the AUDIT scores (b = -0.23, 95%CI: -0.46; -0.002, p = 0.048) and number of consequences (b = -0.16, 95% CI: -0.25; -0.06, p = 0.001) compared to the PNF. CF reduced the AUDIT scores (b = -0.33, 95% CI: -0.62; -0.03,p = 0.029) and frequency of use (b = -0.37, 95%CI: -0.73; -0.004, p = 0.045) after 3 months. Conclusion: An internet-based PNF intervention and its components were effective in reducing alcohol consumption, but only the NF reduced alcohol-related consequences. These interventions are an alternative among several prevention, treatment and environmental strategies that should be integrated for the adequatemanagement of alcohol use and related problems among university students.
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 42 (Supplement 1) : 204A
- Year: 2018
- Problem: Alcohol Use
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Service Delivery & Improvement, Psychological Interventions (any)
, Personalised feedback, normative feedback
, Technology, interventions delivered using technology (e.g. online, SMS)
Chavez, K. E., Palfai, T. P.
Purpose: Heavy episodic drinking (4+ drinks per occasion for women, 5+ for men) represents a significant risk for college student health. Brief, web-based interventions have been found to be efficacious in reducing heavy episodic drinking among college students, however effect sizes have been relatively small. Text messagingmay increase the impact of computerized interventions by providing content to reinforce learning and delivering intervention content proximal to drinking times. This pilot study was designed to provide an effect size estimate for an app-based text messaging adjunct to a web intervention for heavy episodic drinking among college students and examine potential processes of change. It was hypothesized that the web intervention plus text messaging adjunct would be associated with fewer heavy drinking episodes at 1-month follow up compared to assessment only. Data: Baseline and outcome data are from twenty-nine undergraduate students reporting 2+ heavy drinking episodes in the pastmonth. Methods: Students were recruited from an introductory psychology class and randomly assigned to one of two conditions: Assessment Only (AO) or Intervention (INTV) consisting of a commercially available web intervention (eCHECKUPTO GO) plus 12 textmessages over the following month. Frequency of heavy drinking episodes were measured at baseline and 1-month follow-up to test the primary aim. Negative consequences, perceived drinking norms, self-regulatory processes, readiness- to-change, and drinking intentions were also assessed at these time points. Hierarchical multiple regressions were used for effect size estimates of 1-month outcomes for the intervention controlling for baseline variables. Results: There was a medium to large effect (f2 = 0.25) of the INTV condition on heavy drinking episodes compared to AO at follow up (p < 0.05). Small tomedium effects were observed for INTV on drinking consequences and a number of psychological processes including perceived norms, readiness-to-change, and intentions to drink in the expected directions. Conclusions: These findings provide initial support for the use of a web intervention plus text messaging adjunct to decrease heavy drinking episodes and provide evidence for its impact on a number of processes of change. Future work will examine the specific advantages of text messaging vs. the web intervention alone and test identified processes of change as potentialmediators.
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 42 (Supplement 1) : 198A
- Year: 2018
- Problem: Alcohol Use
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Service Delivery & Improvement, Psychological Interventions (any)
, Other Psychological Interventions, Technology, interventions delivered using technology (e.g. online, SMS)
Delaney, D. J., Bassett, S. S., Clair-Michaud, M., Martin, R. A., Stein, L. A. R.
Race and ethnicity have been shown to moderate treatment interventions targeting alcohol use and alcohol use outcomes. One intervention that has been found to have a differential impact among minority groups is motivational interviewing (MI). MI demonstrates greater benefit (i.e. less drinking) for Hispanic individuals as compared to Whites and African-Americans. Given these findings, this study examined whether race and/or ethnicitymoderated treatment outcomes among incarcerated youth who received either combined MI and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT;MI/CBT) intervention or combined relaxation training (RT) with substance-education and Twelve-Step introduction (SET; RT/SET). Participants (N = 187), recruited from a state juvenile correctional facility in the Northeast, were assessed prior to receiving treatment and at 6-months post-release. Participants were ages 14-19 (M = 17.10; SD = 1.04), 90%male, and identified with the following racial/ethnic groups: Hispanic (43%),White (25%), and African-American (32%). To examine the effects of race/ethnicity and treatment group on alcohol use outcomes post-release, analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were conducted on (1) percent drinking days (PDD) (2) percent heavy drinking days (PHDD), and (3) average number of drinks per week, controlling for baseline alcohol use. The ANCOVA model included the interaction of treatment group and race/ethnicity. At 6-month follow-up, results indicated that those in RT/SET had significantly less PHDD than those who received MI/CBT (p = 0.03); and that compared to White youth, Hispanic and African-American youth had significantly lower PDD (p = 0.003 and p = 0.002, respectively), significantly lower PHDD (p = 0.004 and p < 0.001, respectively), and significantly less average drinks per week (p = 0.01 and p = 0.002, respectively). The interaction was significant such that MI/CBT and RT/SET were found to be equally efficacious for Hispanics and African-Americans. However, for White youth, RT/SET was found to be more beneficial thanMI/CBTin reducingPHDD (p = 0.02). Findings suggest that incarceratedWhite youth aremore responsive to relaxation training combined with psycho-education and Twelve-Step activities; whereas incarcerated minority youth show no benefit by condition, but drink less after release than White youth. More work is needed in this area to replicate findings and elucidatemechanisms of action driving these findings.
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 42 (Supplement 1) : 69A
- Year: 2018
- Problem: Alcohol Use
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
, At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions (any)
, Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT)
, Motivational interviewing, includes Motivational Enhancing Therapy, Other Psychological Interventions
Earle, A. M., LaBrie, J. W., Boyle, S. C., Smith, D.
Our recent work (Boyle, Earle, LaBrie, & Smith, 2017) showed that the efficacy of personalized normative feedback-based (PNF) college alcohol interventions can be improved through the addition of gamified elements including points, chance, competition, and personal avatars. However, participants in that study were compensated with subject pool credit. In the current study, we piloted an upgraded, smartphone-based version of the game, which was designed to be truly self-sustaining (i.e., engaging enough that students play voluntarily without the presence of external motivators). First-year students were invited to play the game weekly for six rounds, with participants submitting and voting on their own questions each week and receiving a novel type of feedback in addition to standard descriptive PNF: opposite peers' judgments of participants' self-reported drinking behavior, or reflective norms. With no play-based incentives, 222 first-year college students voluntarily played the game, CampusGANDR. ANCOVA models revealed that, relative to participants randomized to receive feedback on control topics during the three intervention rounds, those who received both descriptive and reflective feedback on peer alcohol use had significantly reduced normative perceptions and reduced alcohol use two months post intervention. This was especially true among heavy drinkers. The results suggest that our gamified "GANDR" approach shows promise as a self-sustaining intervention and, further, that high-risk drinkers may benefit disproportionately from this methodology. Thus, self-sustaining interventions represent an encouraging avenue for future research and development and may hold the potential to impact risky college drinking on a large scale. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)
Addictive Behaviors, 80 : 71-81
- Year: 2018
- Problem: Alcohol Use
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions (any)
, Personalised feedback, normative feedback
, Technology, interventions delivered using technology (e.g. online, SMS)
Gonzales, N. A., Jensen, M., Tein, J. Y., Wong, J. J., Dumka, L. E., Mauricio, A. M.
IMPORTANCE Substance abuse preventive interventions frequently target middle school students and demonstrate efficacy to prevent early onset and use of alcohol and illicit drugs. However, evidence of sustained results to prevent later patterns of alcohol misuse and more serious alcohol abuse disorders has been lacking, particularly for US Latino populations. OBJECTIVE To test whether a universal middle school prevention program can reduce the frequency of alcohol misuse and rates of alcohol use disorder 5 years after implementation with aMexican American sample. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A previous randomized clinical trialwas conducted with 516Mexican American 7th graders and at least 1 parent who identified as havingMexican origin. Three annual cohorts of families were recruited from rosters of 4 middle schools and randomized to the 9-session Bridges/Puentes family-focused group intervention or a workshop control condition. Recruitment, screening, pretest, and randomization occurred in the same academic year for each cohort: 2003-2004, 2004-2005, and 2005-2006. Data acquisition for the follow-up assessments of late-adolescent alcohol misuse and abuse, which were not included in the initial randomized clinical trial, was conducted from September 2009 to September 2014; analysis was conducted between August 2016 and July 2017. In this assessment, 420 children (81.4%) of the sample were included, when the majority were in their final year of high school. INTERVENTIONS The 9-session Bridges/Puentes intervention integrated youth, parent, and family intervention sessions that were delivered in the spring semester at each school, with separate groups for English-dominant vs Spanish-dominant families. The control workshop was offered during the same semester at each school, also in English and Spanish. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Primary outcomeswere diagnostic assessment of lifetime alcohol use disorder in the 12th grade, 5 years after the intervention, based on the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children and past-year frequency of alcohol use, binge drinking, and drunkenness based on the 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. RESULTS Of the 420 participants, 215 (51.2%) were girls (mean [SD] age, 17.9 [0.62] years). The intervention reduced the likelihood of having an alcohol use disorder (beta = -.93; SE, 0.47; P = .047; odds ratio, 0.39). Intervention associations with past-year alcohol use frequency, binge drinking, and drunkenness were moderated by baseline substance use. The intervention reduced the frequency of alcohol use (beta = -.51; SE, 0.24; P = .04; Cohen d = 0.43) and drunkenness (beta = -.51; SE, 0.26; P = .049; Cohen d = 0.41) among youth who reported any previous substance use at baseline (T1 initiators) but not among those who had not initiated any substance use (T1 abstainers) at baseline. For past-year binge drinking, the intervention finding did not reach statistical significance among T1 initiators (beta = -.40; SE, 0.23; P = .09) or T1 abstainers (beta = .23; SE, 0.14; P = .11). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Study results support an association between a universal middle school intervention and alcohol misuse and alcohol use disorders amongMexican American high school students and implementation of universal middle school interventions to reach Latino communities. Copyright © 2018 American Medical Association.
JAMA Psychiatry, 75(5) : 429-437
- Year: 2018
- Problem: Alcohol Use
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Universal prevention
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions (any)
, Other Psychological Interventions
Hides, L., Quinn, C., Cockshaw, W., Stoyanov, S., Zelenko, O., Johnson, D., Tjondronegoro, D., Quek, L. H., Kavanagh, D. J.
Mobile apps provide a highly accessible way of reducing alcohol use in young people. This paper determines the 1-month efficacy and 2, 3 and 6month outcomes of the Ray's Night Out app, which aims to increase alcohol knowledge and reduce alcohol use in young people. User-experience design and agile development processes, informed by the Information-Motivation-Behavioral skills model and evidence-based motivational interviewing treatment approaches guided app development. A randomized controlled trial comparing immediate versus 1-month delayed access to the app was conducted in 197 young people (16 to 25years) who drank alcohol in the previous month.
Addictive Behaviors, 77 : 89-95
- Year: 2018
- Problem: Alcohol Use
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Service Delivery & Improvement, Psychological Interventions (any)
, Other Psychological Interventions, Technology, interventions delivered using technology (e.g. online, SMS)
Jaffe, A. E., Bountress, K. E., Metzger, I. W., Maples-Keller, J. L., Pinsky, H. T., George, W. H., Gilmore, A. K.
Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate individual engagement and comfort during a web-based intervention for alcohol and sexual assault risk reduction. Methods: Participants were 264 college women (aged 18-20) who reported engaging in heavy episodic drinking in the past month. Participants were randomized to either an intervention condition (alcohol, sexual assault risk reduction, or combined) or a control condition (full or minimal assessment). Participants rated their experiences during the procedures following the assessment or receipt of the intervention depending on condition. Survey usage information (e.g., time data, completion of intervention) was automatically recorded. Results: Most participants completed the intervention as intended (in a reasonable amount of time, in private, without consuming substances). Women with a sexual assault history were most comfortable in the sexual assault risk reduction intervention, whereas women who frequently engaged in heavy episodic drinking were least comfortable in the alcohol intervention condition. Self-reported distraction was not impacted by personal relevance of the intervention, but was associated with setting of participation. Conclusions: Results suggest that most college women completed web-based personalized feedback interventions as designed, despite minimal discomfort. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)
Addictive Behaviors, 82 : 23-27
- Year: 2018
- Problem: Alcohol Use
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Service Delivery & Improvement, Psychological Interventions (any)
, Psychoeducation, Personalised feedback, normative feedback
, Technology, interventions delivered using technology (e.g. online, SMS)
LaBrie, J. W., Boyle, S. C., Earle, A. M., Smith, D.
Purpose: Recent research has established that delivering Personalized Normative Feedback (PNF) on alcohol use within an online game about college life increases the degree to which PNF reduces drinking, relative to traditional web-based intervention formats. Subsequent work has sought to identify the specific game features responsible for with this increased effectiveness. This study focuses on the element of co-presence, the feeling of being with others online, which is commonly achieved through the graphical representation of self and others (e.g., avatars, personal icons, user profiles, etc.) in the socialmedia sites, digital games, and mobile apps popular among college students. Method: Three-hundred undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of 4 web-based study conditions which included identical questions and alcohol PNF slides butmanipulated the level of graphical representation of the "typical students" on which the drinking norms presented in PNF were based. Results: Regression models predicting alcohol use 20 days later revealed that a maximum co-presence condition which prompted participants to create social-media-like personal profiles and view the profiles of peers' contributing to the norms, was more effective in reducing alcohol use than was a traditional PNF intervention condition, a game-framed no co-presence condition, and a gamedframed minimal co-presence condition which displayed only small, thumbnail-sized photos of participating peers. Further, relative to the other PNF conditions, moderator analysis revealed that the maximum co-presence condition was especially effective in reducing alcohol use among moderate and heavy drinking students. Conclusion: As creating a personal profile and viewing the profiles of peers are central activities in many popular social media sites, digital games, and mobile apps, students are highly familiar and comfortable with this form of digital representation. Findings from this study demonstrate that such profile technology can be integrated into the PNF intervention context to increase the effectiveness of alcohol feedback. Potential explanatory mechanisms rooted in Self-Determination, Psychological Reactance, and Social Identity Theories are discussed.
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 42 (Supplement 1) : 195A
- Year: 2018
- Problem: Alcohol Use
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Universal prevention
, At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Service Delivery & Improvement, Psychological Interventions (any)
, Personalised feedback, normative feedback
, Technology, interventions delivered using technology (e.g. online, SMS)
McKay, M., Agus, A., Cole, J., Doherty, P., Foxcroft, D., Harvey, S., Murphy, L., Percy, A., Sumnall, H.
OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of a combined classroom curriculum and parental intervention (the Steps Towards Alcohol Misuse Prevention Programme (STAMPP)), compared with alcohol education as normal (EAN), in reducing self-reported heavy episodic drinking (HED) and alcohol-related harms (ARHs) in adolescents.
SETTING: 105 high schools in Northern Ireland (NI) and in Scotland.
PARTICIPANTS: Schools were stratified by free school meal provision. Schools in NI were also stratified by school type (male/female/coeducational). Eligible students were in school year 8/S1 (aged 11-12 years) at baseline (June 2012).
INTERVENTION: A classroom-based alcohol education intervention, coupled with a brief alcohol intervention for parents/carers. PRIMARY OUTCOMES: (1) The prevalence of self-reported HED in the previous 30 days and (2) the number of self-reported ARHs in the previous 6 months. Outcomes were assessed using two-level random intercepts models (logistic regression for HED and negative binomial for number of ARHs).
RESULTS: At 33 months, data were available for 5160 intervention and 5073 control students (HED outcome), and 5234 and 5146 students (ARH outcome), respectively. Of those who completed a questionnaire at either baseline or 12 months (n=12 738), 10 405 also completed the questionnaire at 33 months (81.7%). Fewer students in the intervention group reported HED compared with EAN (17%vs26%; OR=0.60, 95% CI 0.49 to 0.73), with no significant difference in the number of self-reported ARHs (incident rate ratio=0.92, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.05). Although the classroom component was largely delivered as intended, there was low uptake of the parental component. There were no reported adverse effects.
CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that STAMPP could be an effective programme to reduce HED prevalence. While there was no significant reduction in ARH, it is plausible that effects on harms would manifest later.
TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN47028486; Post-results.
BMJ Open, 8(3) : e019722
- Year: 2018
- Problem: Alcohol Use
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Universal prevention
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions (any)
, Psychoeducation, Other Psychological Interventions
Merrill, J. E., Boyle, H. K., Barnett, N. P., Carey, K. B.
Correcting misperceptions in drinking norms is an established method of reducing college student drinking; however, delivery of accurate norms has typically been limited to a single dose within the confines of an alcohol intervention. The present study tests the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of using text messages to promote pro-moderation descriptive and injunctive norms. Following a baseline survey, 68 heavy drinking college students were randomly assigned to receive 28 daily messages with either accurate norms information (experimental group, n = 34) or fun facts (control group, n = 34). Participants rated each message on a 5-point scale of interest, and at the end of the 28 days completed a follow-up assessment of normative perceptions and drinking behavior. The study protocol was feasible: 87% of invited students completed the screener, 64% of eligible students completed the consent form, and 93% agreed to participate. All messages were delivered and 98% were rated. Regarding acceptability, the mean interest rating for the alcohol-related text messages was 2.84 (SD = 1.30), and no participants withdrew from the study. Although between-group differences were not observed at follow-up, participants in the experimental group showed significant reductions between baseline and follow-up on peak drinks, frequency of heavy episodic drinking (HED), negative consequences, and injunctive norms (ps < 0.01). Results lay the groundwork for development of a text-based prevention strategy for use in college settings. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd
Addictive Behaviors, 83 : 175-181
- Year: 2018
- Problem: Alcohol Use
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Service Delivery & Improvement, Psychological Interventions (any)
, Personalised feedback, normative feedback
, Technology, interventions delivered using technology (e.g. online, SMS)