Cited by 47Substance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesPsychotherapy Techniques and ApplicationsBehavioral Health and Interventions

Influence of Counselor Characteristics and Behaviors on the Efficacy of a Brief Motivational Intervention for Heavy Drinking in Young Men-A Randomized Controlled Trial

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Gaume, Jacques, Magill, Molly, Longabaugh, Richard, Bertholet, Nicolas, Gmel, Gerhard, Daeppen, Jean-Bernard·2014·Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Brief motivational intervention (BMI) has shown promising results to reduce alcohol use in young adults. Knowledge on mechanisms that predict BMI efficacy could potentially improve treatment effect sizes through data that optimize clinical training and implementation. Particularly, little attention has been given to counselor influence on treatment mechanisms. METHODS: We investigated the influence of counselors on BMI efficacy in reducing alcohol use among non-treatment-seeking young men (age 20) screened as hazardous drinkers. Participants were randomly allocated to (i) a group receiving a single BMI from 1 of 18 counselors selected to maximize differences in several of their characteristics (gender, professional status, clinical experience, and motivational interviewing [MI] experience) or (ii) a control group receiving assessment only. Drinking at 3-month follow-up was first compared between the BMI and control groups to assess efficacy. Then, the influence of counselors' characteristics (i.e., gender, professional status, clinical experience, MI experience, BMI attitudes, and expectancies) and within-session behaviors (i.e., measured by the Motivational Interviewing Skill Code) on outcome was tested in regression analyses. RESULTS: There was a significant (p = 0.02) decrease in alcohol use among the BMI group compared to the control group. Counselors that were male, more experienced, that had more favorable BMI attitudes and expectancies, higher MI skills, but surprisingly less MI-consistent behaviors, had significantly better outcomes than the control group while their counterparts did not. CONCLUSIONS: The current study demonstrated BMI efficacy on alcohol use reduction within a sample of non-treatment-seeking young adult males. Moreover, BMI effect was related to interindividual differences among counselors, and results therefore provide recommendations for BMI training and implementation with similar populations.

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  • Many studies have delivered MI by telephone.

    “While MI was originally developed as a counselling style to be delivered in-person, there have been many telephone based MI studies. 13”

    From A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial to Assess the Impact of Motivational Interviewing on Initiating Behavioral Therapy for Migraine (2020) · cites this paper as [13]

    The Sample and inclusion procedures section says telephone calls were used for three-month follow-up interviews, not to deliver motivational interviewing. A search for telephone-based MI delivery found no passage in our copy addressing whether many such studies exist. (LLM, conf=0.77)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Babor TF, Higgins-Biddle JC, Saunders JB, Monteiro MG (2001) AUDIT -The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. 2nd ed. World Health Organization, Geneva.

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Authors
Gaume, J., Magill, M., Longabaugh, R., Bertholet, N., Gmel, G., & Daeppen, J.-B.
Affiliations
  • Brown University (US)
  • Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CH)
Corresponding author
Gaume, Jacques
Venue
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2014-06-24
Volume
38
Issue
7
Pages
2138-2147
ISSN
0145-6008 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2064129499
Cited by
47
References
51
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 1
FWCI
4.28
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • SERVAL (Université de Lausanne) (publishedVersion)
  • IRIS (submittedVersion)
Funders
Swiss National Science Foundation (FN 33CSC0-122679, PBLAP3-134347)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
Keywords
brief motivational intervention, heavy drinking, young men, counselor characteristics, counselor gender, alcohol consumption reduction, hazardous drinking
MeSH terms
Alcohol Drinking, Clinical Competence, Counseling, Humans, Male, Professional-Patient Relations, Treatment Outcome, Young Adult, Motivational Interviewing

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