Brief alcohol interventions by counselor and computer

描述(申请人提供)：有害的狂饮经常发生在大学校园，损害学生的学习成绩，社会关系，以及身体和心理健康。虽然研究文件表明，辅导员提供的简短动机干预(BMI)确实可以减少饮酒和相关问题，但BMI产生的影响往往是中小规模的，这些影响并不总是保持不变，特别是在违反校园酒精政策的学生中。因此，为了促进学生的健康和安全，需要改进BMI，以增强所观察到的影响的程度，并保持降低风险的收益。此外，为了推进健康行为变化的科学研究，研究需要提高对短暂干预发挥有益影响的机制的理解。这项拟议的研究将通过开发一种理论指导的、低成本的电子邮件助推器(电子邮件助推器)来放大和维持BMI的影响，从而改善BMI引发的变化。电子助推器将使用现有的分发技术，在《全球监测指数》发布后4至12周内(当有益影响开始衰退时)，并将针对假定的变化机制；也就是说，电子推进器信息将加强和扩大《全球监测指标》的规范反馈部分，并促使同行讨论标准数据。拟议的研究将分两部分完成。第一阶段将涉及形成性研究，以开发和完善电子助推器和健康行为控制信息，涉及200名学生饮酒者。第二阶段将包括一项随机对照试验(RCT)，596名学生因在校园内违反酒精相关政策而被转介。在这项随机对照试验中，所有被推荐的学生都将收到BMI，然后他们将被随机分成两种结构相同的助推器条件之一：a)带有纠正规范消息的电子助推器或b)控制系列的健康促进电子邮件。在这两种情况下的学生将接受基线评估，接受BMI，并在BMI后1、3、5、8和12个月返回进行后续评估。关键结果将是饮酒和与酒精相关的问题；假设的中介变量将包括描述性和禁止性规范以及同伴沟通。拟议的设计将允许进行以下分析：a)记录最初由体重指数引起的变化；b)确定电子助推器随着时间的推移是否增强或保持风险降低；以及c)测试假设的调解机制。这项研究将通过为预防酗酒提供更有力的干预来促进公共健康，并将通过确定短暂干预改变饮酒行为的社会认知机制来促进预防科学的发展。 与公共健康相关：短暂的酒精干预减少了高危大学饮酒者的饮酒和酒精后果。这项研究旨在通过电子邮件传递的助推器(e-Booster)加强这些干预措施的结果，该助推器由一系列旨在纠正夸大饮酒规范的简短信息组成。需要更有效的干预措施，以减少大学年轻人中不必要的酒精相关伤害。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Harmful binge drinking occurs frequently on college campuses, undermining students' academic performance, social relationships, and somatic and mental health. Although research documents that counselor-delivered, brief motivational interventions (BMIs) reliably reduce drinking and related problems, the effects produced by BMIs tend to be small-to-medium in size and these effects are not always maintained, especially among students who have violated campus alcohol policies. Thus, to promote student health and safety, BMIs need to be improved to enhance the magnitude of the observed effects and maintain risk-reduction gains. In addition, to advance the science of health behavior change, research needs to improve understanding of the mechanisms by which brief interventions exert their beneficial impact. The proposed research will improve BMI-initiated change by developing a theoretically-guided, low-cost, e-mail booster (e-booster) to magnify and sustain the effects of BMI. The e-booster will be delivered using existing distribution technology between four to twelve weeks after the BMI (when beneficial effects begin to decay) and will target the hypothesized mechanisms of change; that is, e- booster messages will reinforce and expand upon the normative feedback component of the BMI and prompt peer discussion regarding normative data. The proposed research will be completed in two parts. Phase I will involve formative research to develop and refine e-booster and health behavior control messages with 200 student drinkers. Phase II will involve a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 596 students referred for violating alcohol-related policy on campus. In this RCT, all referred students will receive a BMI, and then they will be randomized to one of two structurally-equivalent booster conditions: a) e-booster with corrective norms messages or b) a control series of health promotion e-mails. Students in both conditions will undergo a baseline assessment, receive a BMI, and return for follow-up assessments at 1, 3, 5, 8, and 12 months post-BMI. Key outcomes will be alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems; hypothesized mediating variables will include descriptive and injunctive norms as well as peer communication. The proposed design will permit analyses that a) document initial BMI-induced changes; b) determine whether the e-booster enhances or maintains risk reduction over time; and c) test the hypothesized mediational mechanisms. This research will advance public health by providing a more powerful intervention for alcohol abuse prevention, and will advance prevention science by identifying social-cognitive mechanisms by which brief interventions change drinking behavior. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Brief alcohol interventions reduce drinking and alcohol consequences among at-risk college drinkers. This research aims to strengthen outcomes of these interventions with an e-mail- delivered booster (e-booster) consisting of a series of brief messages designed to correct exaggerated drinking norms. More effective interventions are needed to reduce unnecessary alcohol-related harms among young adults in college.