Computer-enhanced primary care practitioner advice for high-risk college drinkers in a student primary health-care setting

Heavy drinking among college students remains a significant public health c oncern. Studies of a brief intervention for high-risk college drinkers deve loped by Alan Marlatt and colleagues have produced promising results. This current study sought to extend this earlier work by developing a streamline d version for use at a student health center. Undergraduate students seekin g services at a student health centre were asked to complete the Multi-Medi a Assessment of Student Health (MMASH) an interactive computer program deve loped for purposes of the study. Students meeting high-risk criteria for he avy or hazardous drinking were invited to participate in the research progr am. Forty-one students volunteered to participate and were randomly assigne d by MMASH to either the brief intervention experimental condition or a tre atment-as-usual control condition. Immediately following completion of MMAS H, experimental participants and their primary care practitioner received a nd reviewed a personalized graphic feedback from an attached printer that s ummarized their drinking habits, risks, and encouraged moderate drinking. M oderate to large treatment effect sized favoring the brief intervention wer e observed on self-report measures of binge drinking episodes and alcohol p roblems at the 30-day follow-up. Statistically significant gains were obser ved among those participants receiving the most exposure to the interventio n in comparison to those who received less exposure.