Aims

To support the free and open dissemination of research findings and information on alcoholism and alcohol-related problems. To encourage open access to peer-reviewed articles free for all to view.

For full versions of posted research articles readers are encouraged to email requests for "electronic reprints" (text file, PDF files, FAX copies) to the corresponding or lead author, who is highlighted in the posting.

___________________________________________

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Mandated College Students: Sleeper Effects of an In-Person Personal Feedback Intervention
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research (OnlineEarly Articles). 5 June 2007


It is known that brief interventions for mandated college students decrease alcohol use and/or related problems in the short term. However, none of the existing studies has followed students' past 6 months.

Therefore, we compared the long-term efficacy of 2 brief substance use feedback interventions for mandated college students.

Long-term follow-up data revealed that students, at the aggregate level, decreased their peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels, number of drinks per week, and number of alcohol-related problems at 15 months postintervention compared with their baseline levels.

With the exception of peak BAC, the observed long-term reduction was mainly due to the positive change among students who received the BMI intervention. Students in the BMI intervention showed significantly lower levels of alcohol-related problems at 15 months than those in the WF intervention.

The BMI intervention more effectively reduced within-individual alcohol-related problems during the initial 4 months, and more successfully curbed the subsequent increase in alcohol use frequency and number of drinks per week during the 11 months between the 2 follow-up assessments.

The results suggest that brief substance use interventions reduce the riskiest type of alcohol use (e.g., peak BAC) among mandated college students over the long term, and that sleeper effects of in-person personal feedback interventions (PFIs) exist. In-person PFIs in the context of a motivational interview may be more efficacious in the long term than written feedback-only interventions for mandated students.

Future studies comparing interventions for college students should extend follow-up for longer periods of time.

Read Full Abstract

Reprint Request E-mail: hewhite@rci.rutgers.edu

____________________________________________________________