Randomized controlled trial of web-based decisional balance feedback and personalized normative feedback for college drinkers

• Published in: Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs Vol. 75; no. 6; p. 982
• Main Authors: Collins, Susan E, Kirouac, Megan, Lewis, Melissa A, Witkiewitz, Katie, Carey, Kate B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.11.2014
• Subjects: Alcohol Drinking - therapy; Feedback, Psychological; Female; Humans; Internet; Male; Patient Satisfaction; Students - psychology; Therapy, Computer-Assisted; Universities; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1938-4114
• DOI: 10.15288/jsad.2014.75.982

Web-based personalized feedback interventions, particularly personalized normative feedback (PNF), are efficacious in improving college drinking outcomes; however, no personalized feedback interventions to date have provided college drinkers with feedback about their own decisional balance. This study tested the relative efficacy of a novel decisional balance feedback (DBF) intervention, PNF, and an assessment-only control condition. Participants (N = 724; 56% female) were undergraduate students at a 4-year university in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and were randomized to receive one-time exposure to web-based DBF, PNF, or assessment only. Web-based assessment occurred at baseline and at 1-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups and included measures of motivation to change, drinking quantity norms, drinking frequency/quantity, and alcohol-related problems. At the 1-month follow-up, DBF and PNF participants reported reductions in alcohol-related problems; however, only PNF participants reduced their drinking frequency and quantity. At the 6-month follow-up, only DBF participants showed significant reductions in drinking quantity and alcohol-related problems. Neither group maintained reductions in alcohol use or alcohol-related problems at the 12-month follow-up. This study provided preliminary evidence that web-based DBF and PNF are efficacious interventions for college drinkers, with DBF having somewhat longer lasting effects.