Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia.
Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology, Norfolk, Virginia.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2018 Sep;42(9):1735-1747. doi: 10.1111/acer.13815. Epub 2018 Jul 11.
Problematic drinking among emerging adult college students is extensive. Computer-delivered interventions (CDIs) have strong appeal because they can be quickly delivered to large numbers of students. Although they are efficacious in the short term, CDIs are not as efficacious as in-person interventions longer term. This study examined the utility of emailed boosters containing personalized feedback after a CDI to enhance and extend reductions among emerging adult college drinkers. Sex and age were explored as potential moderators.
Participants were 537 college students (67.4% female) aged 18 to 24 years (M age = 19.65, SD = 1.67) who consumed at least 1 alcoholic drink in the past 2 weeks. They were randomly assigned to CDI-only, CDI + booster email, or an assessment-only control condition, and were assessed up to 9 months postintervention. A booster email with personalized feedback was sent to the CDI + booster email group 2 weeks after completion of the CDI.
Moderation findings for age revealed that the booster may be an effective means to strengthen and extend intervention effects for emerging adults who are of legal drinking age. However, effects were negligible for underage drinkers. Although the booster effect for the overall sample demonstrated a trend in the expected direction, it failed to reach significance. Booster effects were not significantly moderated by sex. Intervention effects were not moderated by either age or sex.
The present investigation contributes to a limited body of research on boosters to augment main intervention effects in college drinkers. Our study demonstrated that a brief CDI plus a simple email booster with personalized feedback resulted in significant reductions in drinking outcomes for emerging adults of legal drinking age. Efforts to further develop and refine intervention booster strategies represent a promising future direction to minimize harmful drinking among college students.
在刚成年的大学生中，饮酒问题普遍存在。计算机传递的干预措施（CDI）具有很强的吸引力，因为它们可以快速传递给大量的学生。尽管它们在短期内是有效的，但在长期内，CDI 的效果不如面对面的干预措施。本研究考察了在 CDI 之后通过电子邮件发送包含个性化反馈的电子邮件增强剂，以增强和延长刚成年的大学生饮酒者减少饮酒量的效果。性别和年龄被探索为潜在的调节因素。
参与者为 537 名年龄在 18 至 24 岁（M 年龄=19.65，SD=1.67）的大学生，他们在过去 2 周内至少饮用过 1 次含酒精的饮料。他们被随机分配到 CDI 组、CDI+增强剂电子邮件组或仅评估对照组，在干预后最多进行 9 个月的评估。在完成 CDI 后 2 周，向 CDI+增强剂电子邮件组发送了一封包含个性化反馈的增强剂电子邮件。
年龄的调节作用发现，对于达到法定饮酒年龄的刚成年饮酒者，增强剂可能是一种强化和延长干预效果的有效手段。然而，对于未成年饮酒者，效果可以忽略不计。尽管总体样本的增强剂效果显示出朝着预期方向的趋势，但未达到显著性。增强剂效果未被性别显著调节。干预效果不受年龄或性别的调节。
本研究有助于增加有关增强大学饮酒者主要干预效果的增强剂的有限研究。我们的研究表明，简短的 CDI 加上包含个性化反馈的简单电子邮件增强剂，可以显著降低刚成年的法定饮酒年龄的饮酒者的饮酒量。进一步开发和完善干预增强剂策略的努力代表了减少大学生中有害饮酒的一个有前途的未来方向。
