A SELF-HELP APPROACH FOR HIGH-RISK DRINKING - EFFECT OF AN INITIAL ASSESSMENT

A self-help book was offered to persons wanting to quit or cut down on their alcohol use. Study participants (99 men, 56 women) were recruit ed through advertisements, screened by telephone, and randomly assigne d to 1 of 2 conditions: Book by mail or Assessment + Book(30-min telep hone motivational interview plus book by mail). At 3-month follow-up, significantly more participants qualified as moderate drinkers in the Assessment + Book condition (65% vs. 43%), by this criterion: less tha n or equal to 12 drinks/week and less than or equal to 10% heavy drink ing days (5+ drinks if male and 4+ drinks if female; 13.6 g of ethanol per drink). At 12 months there was no effect of condition, but signif icantly more women than men were rated as moderate drinkers (71% vs. 5 2%); Collateral informants corroborated the participants' reports of d rinking.