Steering Clear of Driving After Drinking: a Tailored e-Health Intervention for Reducing Repeat Offending and Modifying Alcohol Use in a High-Risk Cohort

Abstract

Online interventions for reducing risky behaviour such as drink driving may be useful and cost effective from a public health perspective. Potentially, they can directly address risky behaviours associated with alcohol use in high-risk cohorts that may not ordinarily receive intervention.

Editorial on IJBM Special Issue—E-Health Interventions for Addictive Behaviors

“…Two are concerned with user engagement in relation to interventions that are pure self-help, and thus completely unguided: Wilson et al evaluated the feasibility and appeal of a 2-hour program aiming to reduce relapse in drunken driving among 15 first-time DUI (driving under the influence) offenders [6], while Irvine et al assessed engagement with a text message intervention among 411 socially disadvantaged men with problematic alcohol use [8]. The remaining four articles directly or indirectly involved a human guide or clinician in some way: Urbanoski et al explored the role of health education moderators in an online community for 205 users of a self-help program for reducing problematic alcohol use [7]; Barrio et al evaluated feasibility and satisfaction with an app for self-registration of alcohol consumption and medication adherence among 24 outpatients with alcohol use disorder [9]; Kay-Lambkin et al found that alliance factors such as client initiative, perfectionism, and need for approval differentially moderated outcome for 274 participants with comorbid depression and alcohol/cannabis use, randomized to therapist-delivered CBT, supportive counseling, or computer-delivered therapy with brief therapist assistance [10]; and Bjelland et al explored qualitative aspects of alliance following use of a self-help film in the early stages of addiction treatment among 12 patients and 22 therapists [11].…”

“…The remaining four articles directly or indirectly involved a human guide or clinician in some way: Urbanoski et al explored the role of health education moderators in an online community for 205 users of a self-help program for reducing problematic alcohol use [7]; Barrio et al evaluated feasibility and satisfaction with an app for self-registration of alcohol consumption and medication adherence among 24 outpatients with alcohol use disorder [9]; Kay-Lambkin et al found that alliance factors such as client initiative, perfectionism, and need for approval differentially moderated outcome for 274 participants with comorbid depression and alcohol/cannabis use, randomized to therapist-delivered CBT, supportive counseling, or computer-delivered therapy with brief therapist assistance [10]; and Bjelland et al explored qualitative aspects of alliance following use of a self-help film in the early stages of addiction treatment among 12 patients and 22 therapists [11]. Three of the studies included small samples [6,9,11], while the other three analyzed larger samples, requiring quantitative analyses to complement the qualitative interpretation [7,8,10].…”

“…Preliminary indicators of positive factors for engagement include systematic and careful development processes and inclusion of avatars for engaging users [6]. The same held for the text message study, where the researchers invested highly in adapting the intervention to suit the habits and needs of socially disadvantaged men, succeeding in eliciting responses to most of the messages, frequently including sensitive personal information, and responding as intended to behavior change components in text messages [8].…”

“…1 for an example of four visualizations from interventions described in this issue that contrast with one another. The main body of articles in the issue follows three key themes, with three articles focusing on the methodology of developing e-health interventions [3][4][5], six focusing on issues of alliance and engagement with e-health interventions [6][7][8][9][10][11], and five articles reporting on empirical outcomes [12][13][14][15][16]. While the focus throughout is addictive behaviors, much of the knowledge collected in the issue has clear relevance for other behaviors, both in the mental health field and in the management of somatic illness, where the user's behavior is essential for maintaining or improving health.…”

Evaluation of the performance of Alcohol and Drug Awareness Courses provided in the ACT

“…Educational and behavior change programs similar to the ADAC program have been evaluated in other studies and have been shown to have the ability to change the attitudes of attendees. Wilson, Palk, Sheehan, Wishart, and Watson (2017) reported on a pilot of an online self-help interactive educational and behavioural program in Australia called 'Steering Clear'. This was designed to prevent recidivism in first time drink driving offenders.…”