Carmen Voogt

c.voogt@pwo.ru.nl

Title project:
Targeting young drinkers online: The effectiveness of a web-based brief alcohol intervention in preventing excessive drinking patterns among adolescents.

Abstract:
A substantial number of Dutch youngsters engages in binge drinking and heavy alcohol use which has serious negative health consequences. The percentage of heavy drinkers is particularly high among youngsters in the ages between 15 and 20 years and there is a clear need for alcohol prevention targeting this age group. Nevertheless, current alcohol preventions programs have paid surprisingly little attention to late adolescents and young adults’ drinking patterns. The present research project will test the effectiveness of a preventive intervention that is specifically aimed at reducing heavy alcohol use among drinkers in the ages between 15 and 20 years. The intervention that will be tested is a web based brief alcohol intervention. This intervention is an improved version of the adolescent online drink test ‘www.watdrinkjij.nl’. This brief alcohol intervention consists of a screening procedure, and a form of personalized feedback based on the screening outcomes. The approach is similar to the adult drink-test except that its contents (text and advice) and design are made suitable for targeting adolescent drinkers. The fact that this alcohol preventive intervention is web-based makes it easier to reach large audiences in a cheap and quick way. Moreover, previous studies have shown that web-based brief alcohol interventions can reduce alcohol use among heavy drinkers in (young) adult populations. The present study will be the first randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of the adolescent online drink-test in reducing heavy alcohol use over a period of 9 months among adolescent drinkers in the ages between 15 to 20 years. The effects of this intervention will be tested by including Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to measure alcohol use. EMA-measurements are regarded as highly valid measures to assess alcohol use and allow a more detailed study of how the intervention effects will develop over time. Besides testing the main effects of the adolescent online drink-test, we will also examine if the impact will be dependent on adolescents’ sex, age, education level, and drinking status and whether the expected effects are mediated by alcohol-related cognitions. The insights that will be gained with the proposed research will be communicated to scientists and health professionals. Moreover, if effective, the tested intervention can be easily implemented in existing alcohol prevention initiatives.