Brief Alcohol Intervention for Heavy Drinking Mandated College Students

Louisiana State Univ A&M Col Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge LA

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Developing effective alcohol interventions for college students is an urgent priority according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA, 2002). There is evidence that the brief motivational intervention (BMI) significantly reduces risky drinking in college student volunteers (Larimer &Cronce, 2002;2007;NIAAA, 2002). Less is known about the efficacy of the BMI among heavy drinking college students who have been mandated to alcohol treatment due to a campus alcohol policy violation (e.g., drinking and driving;Barnett et al., 2004). Mandated students are a critical target group for alcohol interventions because they report heavier alcohol consumption and more alcohol-related problems (e.g., incidents of drinking and driving) relative to campus norms (Clements, 1999;O'Hare, 1997), as well as lower grades and more heavy drinking days compared to their non-adjudicated heavy-drinking peers (O'Leary Tevway et al., 2004). Most high-risk students are not identified until they experience a serious alcohol-related problem (e.g., injury, arrest) and are brought to the attention of college officials. Thus, the university judicial system may be an effective way to identify and intervene with high-risk student drinkers (Barnett &Read, 2005). Few studies have evaluated the BMI among mandated student drinkers using adequate control groups or sufficient follow-up periods, making it unclear whether the BMI is efficacious for this population (Larimer &Cronce, 2002, 2007). We aim to conduct a well-controlled randomized longitudinal trial to evaluate the impact of an empirically supported BMI, the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS;Dimeff et al., 1999) on the reduction of alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems among mandated college students. We will randomly assign 104 mandated students to an intervention group or a to brief wait-list control group and 104 never- mandated volunteer students to an intervention group or to an assessment-only control group. We will assess their drinking and drinking-related consequences at 4-weeks, 3-, 6-, 12-months post intervention. We aim to determine if: (1) the BMI will be more effective than no treatment for mandated students;and (2) the BMI will have a comparable impact among mandated students as in student volunteers in terms of effect size and duration. The current application builds on prior intervention trials to further explore the conditions under which the BMI may decrease risky drinking. The proposed research will have both theoretical and practical importance regarding the improvement of the BMI in critical populations and address the public health concerns as well as the community and campus problems caused by risky college drinking. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Project Narrative: The current research proposal addresses the public health concern caused by risky college student drinking among a high-risk group of students. The overarching goal of the proposed study is to curtail heavy alcohol consumption and reduce alcohol-related problems, which are associated injury, illness, motor vehicle accidents, sexual assault, death, and vandalism. The proposed research will have both theoretical and practical importance regarding the improvement of brief interventions among a critical population of mandated college students to reduce the risk of mandated students developing future alcohol abuse/dependence and decrease disciplinary recidivism due to repeat alcohol-related offenses. The proposal addresses the public health concerns caused by risky college student drinking that have been raised by college campuses, the greater college community, as well as local, state, and federal public health officials. The proposal also reflects a timely, high-priority area of research for NIAAA.