Brief alcohol interventions for mandated college students: comparison of face‐to‐face counseling and computer‐delivered interventions

Abstract

Aims College students who violate alcohol policies are often mandated to participate in alcohol-related interventions. This study investigated (a) whether such interventions reduced drinking beyond the sanction alone, (b) whether a brief motivational intervention (BMI) was more efficacious than two computer-delivered interventions (CDIs), and (c) whether intervention response differed by gender. Design Randomized controlled trial with four conditions (BMI, Alcohol 101 Plus™, Alcohol Edu for Sanctions, delayed control) and four assessments (baseline, 1, 6, and 12 months). Setting Private residential university in the USA. Participants Students (n = 677; 64% male) who had violated campus alcohol policies and were sanctioned to participate in a risk reduction program. Measurements Consumption (drinks per heaviest and typical week, heavy drinking frequency, peak and typical blood alcohol concentration), alcohol problems, and recidivism. Findings Piecewise latent growth models characterized short-term (1-month) and longer-term (1–12 months) change. Female but not male students reduced drinking and problems in the control condition. Males reduced drinking and problems after all interventions relative to control, but did not maintain these gains. Females reduced drinking to a greater extent after a BMI than after either CDI, and maintained reductions relative to baseline across the follow-up year. No differences in recidivism were found. Conclusions Male and female students responded differently to sanctions for alcohol violations and to risk reduction interventions. BMIs optimized outcomes for both genders. Male students improved after all interventions, but female students improved less after CDIs than after BMI. Intervention effects decayed over time, especially for males.

Single-Session Alcohol Interventions for Heavy Drinking College Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Other potentially important effect size moderators had to be excluded because of multicollinearity. For example, computerized intervention delivery (e.g., Carey et al, 2011;Hester et al, 2012;Neighbors et al, 2004) was almost completely collinear with modality (specifically, feedback-only interventions were highly likely to be computerized, whereas MET/ MI interventions were highly unlikely to be computerized). Future studies should address these additional variations.…”

Is It Time to Start Focusing on the Content of Computer‐delivered Interventions?

“…We read with interest the paper by Gearhardt et al [1] examining the links between addictive substances and food-related problems. The authors interestingly suggest that foods and drugs of abuse may share analogous neurobiological and behavioural effects.…”

“…Carey et al [1] conducted a randomized trial to compare brief motivation interventions (BMIs) with computerdelivered interventions (CDIs). Face-to-face BMIs appeared to be more effective in comparison with two CDIs.…”

Prevención de la conducción bajo efectos del alcohol durante festivales universitarios: proyecto Tú decides

“…Otro estudio meta-analítico comparó investigaciones que utilizaron programas face-toface vs intervenciones basadas en el ordenador. Los resultados sugirieron que los programa face-to-face son más eficaces, pese al reducido coste de estas últimas (22). Se observaron resultados similares en estudios previos (21).…”

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