Providing web-based feedback and social norms information to reduce student alcohol intake: a multisite investigation
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Unhealthy alcohol use among university students is cause for concern, yet the level of help seeking behavior for alcohol use is low within the student population. Electronic brief interventions delivered via the Internet present an alternative to traditional treatments and could enable the delivery of interventions on a population basis. Further evidence is needed of the effectiveness of Internet-delivered interventions and of their generalizability across educational institutions. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to evaluate the effectiveness across 4 UK universities of a Web-based intervention for student alcohol use. METHODS: In total, 1112 participants took part. Participants were stratified by educational institution, gender, age group, year of study, and self-reported weekly consumption of alcohol and randomly assigned to either the control arm or to the immediate or delayed intervention arms. Intervention participants gained access to the intervention between weeks 1 to 7 or weeks 8 to 15, respectively. The intervention provided electronic personalized feedback and social norms information on drinking behavior accessed by logging on to a website. Participants registered interest by completing a brief screening questionnaire and were then asked to complete 4 further assessments across the 24 weeks of the study. Assessments included a retrospective weekly drinking diary, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), and a readiness-to-change algorithm. The outcome variable was the number of units of alcohol consumed in the last week. The effect of treatment arm and time on units consumed last week and average units consumed per drinking occasion were investigated using repeated measures multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). In addition, the data were modeled using a longitudinal regression with time points clustered within students. RESULTS: MANCOVA revealed a main effect of time on units of alcohol consumed over the last week. A longitudinal regression model showed an effect of assessment across time predicting that participants who completed at least 2 assessments reduced their drinking. The model predicted an additional effect of being assigned to an intervention arm, an effect that increased across time. Regression analysis predicted that being male or being assigned to an intervention arm increased the odds of not completing all assessments. The number of units of alcohol consumed over the last week at registration, age, university educational institution, and readiness to change were not predictive of completion. CONCLUSIONS: Delivering an electronic personalized feedback intervention to students via the Internet can be effective in reducing weekly alcohol consumption. The effect does not appear to differ by educational institution. Our model suggested that monitoring alone is likely to reduce weekly consumption over 24 weeks but that consumption could be further reduced by providing access to a Web-based intervention. Further research is needed to understand the apparent therapeutic effect of monitoring and how this can be utilized to enhance the effectiveness of brief Web-based interventions.
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Personalized feedback interventions for the most part do not target a specific clientele, as they include non-consumers with high-risk consumers, with the goal to keep consumption within recommended limits.
“For the most part, these interventions do not target a specific clientele, as they include non-consumers with high-risk consumers (for example, Cunningham et al., 2006; Doumas and Andersen, 2009; Bewick et al., 2010; Labrie et al., 2013), with the goal to keep their consumption within recommended limits.”
From Online and Mobile Interventions for Problem Gambling, Alcohol, and Drugs: A Systematic Review (2017) · cites this paper as Bewick et al., 2010
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Do Norms Matter? Examining Norm-Based Messages in HPV Vaccination Promotion
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BackgroundAlcohol Electronic Screening and Brief Intervention
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BackgroundInfluentialDigital Intervention for Problematic Smartphone Use
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“Regarding socio-demographic characteristics, evidences exist that men are more likely to be non-completers than women (eg, [15,27]) and that attrition rates are lower among participants with a lower or middle educational level compared with highly educated participants [28].”
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“However, if such interventions aimed to prevent the worsening of behavior and measured this behavior, rather than reported user intentions, these studies were eligible [52].”
Social Norms Shift Preferences for Healthy and Unhealthy Foods
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“Though there is considerable research supporting the efficacy of web-based normative interventions (M. B. Miller et al., 2013), there is also research indicating that web-based normative interventions do not always work as predicted (Bewick et al., 2010).”
BackgroundLaBrie, J. W., Napper, L. E., & Hummer, J. F. (2013) · Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2013.08.036 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“For example, research among college students has demonstrated the potential efficacy of web-based personalized normative feedback (Bewick et al., 2010; Neighbors et al., 2010; Walters, Vader, & Harris, 2007), in-person group interventions (LaBrie et al., 2010; LaBrie et al., 2008) and…”
Electronic Feedback in College Student Drinking Prevention and Intervention
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“One previously reviewed study (Bewick et al. 2008) demonstrated that drinks per drinking occasion were reduced at 12 weeks postintervention compared with assessment only.”
BackgroundExamining the Persuasive Potential of Web-based Health Behavior Change Support Systems
Lehto, T., & B, H. O.-K. A. (2015) · AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.17705/1thci.00069 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
“Additionally, in the context of Web-based alcohol interventions, researchers have found self-monitoring to be important (Bewick, 2010).”
BackgroundMoore, G. F., Williams, A., Moore, L., & Murphy, S. (2013) · Substance Abuse Treatment Prevention and Policy · doi:10.1186/1747-597x-8-15 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“Social norms interventions aim to correct misperceptions through mailed, web-based or faceto-face feedback on peer drinking norms [18,19], or social marketing campaigns [20,21].”
BackgroundPischke, C. R., Helmer, S. M., Pohlabeln, H., Muellmann, S., Schneider, S., Reintjes, R., Schmidt-Pokrzywniak, A., Girbig, M., Krämer, A., Icks, A., et al. (2021) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.659875 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Theories of behaviour change and personalised feedback interventions for college student drinking
Miller, M. B., Meier, E. M., Lombardi, N., & Leffingwell, T. R. (2015) · Addiction Research & Theory · doi:10.3109/16066359.2014.1001840 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Marley, S., Bekker, H., & Bewick, B. M. (2016) · Psychology and Health · doi:10.1080/08870446.2016.1161192 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“Electronic personalised feedback interventions, delivered over the World Wide Web, can be effective in reducing alcohol consumption among university/college students (Bewick et al., 2010; Cunningham, Wild, Cordingley, van Mierlo, & Humphreys, 2009; Doumas, McKinley, & Book, 2009; Kypri et al., 2009; Neighbors, Lewis,…”
BackgroundHow alike are young non-drinkers, former-drinkers, low-risk drinkers, and hazardous drinkers?
de Visser, R. O., Hart, A., Abraham, C., Graber, R., Scanlon, T., & Memon, A. (2014) · Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2014.04.008 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Perceived Peer Drinking Norms and Responsible Drinking in UK University Settings
Robinson, E., Jones, A., Christiansen, P., & Field, M. (2014) · Substance Use & Misuse · doi:10.3109/10826084.2014.901390 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“alcohol use could be effective in other European countries and Australia (see McLaney, Bewick, & Hughes, 2011 for a review) and larger scale trials across European universities are now taking place (Pischke et al., 2012). Given that the social norms approach is based upon correcting and shifting socio-cultural drinkin…”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialImproved Outcomes Following a Single Session Web-Based Intervention for Problem Gambling
Rodda, S. N., Lubman, D. I., Jackson, A. C., & Dowling, N. A. (2016) · Journal of Gambling Studies · doi:10.1007/s10899-016-9638-2 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“Subsequent web-based research has adopted this measurement approach, administering the Session Evaluation Questionnaire (SEQ), which focuses on the character of sessions (Barak & Bloch, 2006; Bewick, 2010; Reynolds, Stiles, Bailer, & Hughes, 2013; Reynolds, Stiles, & Grohol, 2006).”
Sanchez, Z. M., & Sanudo, A. (2018) · Substance Abuse · doi:10.1080/08897077.2018.1437586 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
“Misconceptions in the interpretation of social norms do not occur only among those who engage in risk behaviors, and social normative feedback could be a tool for correcting these misconceptions in the population.(32) The effectiveness of Web-based interventions aimed at decreasing alcohol consumption and/or preventin…”
MethodThe Palgrave Handbook of Psychological Perspectives on Alcohol Consumption
- (2021) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-66941-6 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Psychological Interventions for Higher Education Students in Europe: A Systematic Literature Review
Franzoi, I. G., Sauta, M. D., Barbagli, F., Avalle, C., & Granieri, A. (2022) · Youth · doi:10.3390/youth2030017 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“[118] evaluated the effectiveness of a web-based intervention for students’ alcohol use, and found that delivering electronic personalized feedback intervention to students via the internet can be effective in reducing weekly alcohol consumption.”
BackgroundBannink, R., Broeren, S., Zwanenburg, E. J.-V., van As, E., van de Looij-Jansen, P., & Raat, H. (2014) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/resprot.2855 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“Various studies have shown that Web-based tailoring is a promising technique to promote health behaviors of adolescents [18-23].”
BackgroundSelf-relevant appeals to engage in self-monitoring of alcohol use: A microrandomized trial.
Carpenter, S. M., Yap, J. R. T., Patrick, M. E., Morrell, N., Dziak, J. J., Almirall, D., Yoon, C., & Nahum-Shani, I. B. (2022) · Psychology of Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1037/adb0000855 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Lemmel, F. K., & Nexhmedin Morina, B. (2024) · Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy · doi:10.1002/cpp.3057 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Hildebrand, J., Maycock, B. R., Howat, P. A., Burns, S. K., ALLSOP, S. J., Dhaliwal, S. S., & Lobo, R. C. (2013) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003870 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
“consumption practices.[9, 32-35] To address the limitations of the research literature as”
van Wel, J. H. P., Rosiers, J., & Hal, G. F. V. (2016) · Substance Use & Misuse · doi:10.3109/10826084.2016.1162811 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
“Implementation of a social norms campaign in universities and other institutes of higher education in the United States of America have shown a reduction rate in alcohol and tobacco use of more than 20% (see Berkowitz, 2005) and recent studies have shown the efficacy of social norms approaches in Europe to be comparab…”
ResultDeluca, P., Coulton, S., Alam, M. F., Boniface, S., Donoghue, K., Gilvarry, E. A., Kaner, E., Lynch, E. M., Maconochie, I. K., McArdle, P., et al. (2020) · Programme Grants for Applied Research · doi:10.3310/pgfar08020 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Fraeyman, J., Royen, P. V., Vriesacker, B., Mey, L. D., & Hal, G. F. V. (2012) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/jmir.1869 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
“Several other studies have shown a decrease in weekly alcohol consumption [24-26], heavy drinking [25,27], or average alcohol consumption [28] after implementation of an electronic intervention.”
BackgroundTechnology-Based Interventions and Trainings to Reduce the Escalation and Impact of Alcohol Problems
Resko, S. M., Brown, S., Lister, J. J., Ondersma, S. J., Cunningham, R. M., & Walton, M. A. (2017) · Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions · doi:10.1080/1533256x.2017.1304948 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Murphy, S., Moore, G., Williams, A., & Moore, L. (2012) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/1471-2458-12-186 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
“No such studies have taken place in Wales, with the limited number of UK based studies suffering substantial weaknesses such as high levels of attrition [9].”
BackgroundTarp, K., Rasmussen, J., Mejldal, A., Folker, M. P., & Nielsen, A. S. (2022) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/17761 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
“In comparison, they found attrition rates of 55% and 65% [54], which seems to be the norm within internet-based alcohol intervention studies [55-57].”
BackgroundDeluca, P., Coulton, S., Alam, M. F., Boniface, S., Cohen, D. R., Donoghue, K., Gilvarry, E. A., Kaner, E., Maconochie, I. K., McArdle, P., et al. (2021) · International Journal of Drug Policy · doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103113 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Undermining Optimistic Denial Reactions to Domestic and Campus Emergency Warning Messages
Thompson, S. C. G., & Schlehofer, M. M. (2014) · Applied Psychology Health and Well-Being · doi:10.1111/aphw.12024 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
mHealth Tool for Alcohol Use Disorders Among Latinos in Emergency Department
Abujarad, F., & Vaca, F. E. (2015) · Proceedings of the International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care · doi:10.1177/2327857915041005 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“(Bewick et al., 2010; Donoghue, Patton, Phillips, Deluca, & Drummond, 2014; Spijkerman et al., 2010) In a study investigating alternatives to the traditional SBRIT process, Neumann et al. explored the use of a computerized tool to improve the ED-SBIRT intervention.”
MethodVirk, P., Arora, R., Burt, H., Gadermann, A., Barbic, S. P., Nelson, M., Davidson, J., Cornish, P. A., & Doan, Q. H. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.812965 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Pueyo‐Garrigues, M., Carver, H., Parr, A. Q., Lavilla‐Gracia, M., Alfaro‐Díaz, C., Esandi, N., & Canga‐Armayor, N. (2024) · Drug and Alcohol Review · doi:10.1111/dar.13848 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Dick, S., Vasiliou, V. S., Davoren, M. P., Dockray, S., Heavin, C., Linehan, C., & Byrne, M. (2020) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/17829 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“Digital interventions have been developed that target a range of potentially harmful behaviors, including alcohol consumption [23-27], smoking [20,28], and illicit drug use [29-35].”
BackgroundDick, S., Heavin, C., Vasiliou, V. S., Davoren, M. P., Dockray, S., Linehan, C., & Byrne, M. (2020) · Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences · doi:10.24251/hicss.2020.415 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“Digital devices have been used in the delivery of many different interventions for various health behaviours, including alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking, and illicit substance use [1-6].”
BackgroundCalverley, H. L. M., Petrass, L. A., & Blitvich, J. D. (2020) · Health Education Research · doi:10.1093/her/cyaa049 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Calidad de los datos de encuestas sobre consumo de alcohol en estudiantes universitarios
Conde, K., & Cremonte, M. (2015) · Cadernos de Saúde Pública · doi:10.1590/0102-311x00061114 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Harm Reduction Text Messages Delivered During Alcohol Drinking: Feasibility Study Protocol
Renner, K. A., Walker, N., Parag, V., & McCormick, R. (2012) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/resprot.1970 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“Web-based alcohol interventions are now gaining popularity by providing information and strategies on reducing consumption and keeping safe [13-15].”
Using virtual environments for trigger identification in addiction treatment
North, L., Robinson, C., Haffegee, A., SHARKEY, P. M., & Hwang, F. (2014) · International Journal on Disability and Human Development · doi:10.1515/ijdhd-2014-0330 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Online brief interventions have been used to identify “at risk” individuals as effectively as trained staff, allowing more people to receive brief interventions with less staff time (the primary cost in delivering brief interventions) [9].”
BackgroundAddictive Behavior Interventions Among College Students
Jeffries, E. R., Lemke, A. W., Shah, S. M., Dean, K. E., Richter, A. A., & Buckner, J. D. (2016) · Current Addiction Reports · doi:10.1007/s40429-016-0117-8 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Electronic Brief Personalised Feedback Interventions for Alcohol Use
Bewick, B. M., Dempsey, R. C., McAlaney, J., & Crosby, H. (2021) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-66941-6_20 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Lowik, A. J., Mniszak, C., Pang, M., Ziafat, K., Karamouzian, M., & Knight, R. (2024) · PLoS Medicine · doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1004413 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Bewick, B. M., Rumball, K., Birtwistle, J. C., Shaw, J. R., Johnson, O. A., Raistrick, D., & Tober, G. (2014) · Drug and Alcohol Review · doi:10.1111/dar.12174 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Lebeaut, A., Pedersen, E. R., Francis, D. J., Zvolensky, M. J., & Vujanovic, A. A. (2023) · Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications · doi:10.1016/j.conctc.2023.101088 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Liu, C., Fuller‐Tyszkiewicz, M., Linardon, J., Jarman, H. K., & Messer, M. (2025) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2025.09.008 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Cribado e intervención breve digital en el uso problemático de Internet: Programa piensaTIC
Salabert, J. D., & Torres, M. I. G. (2019) · Escritos de Psicología / Psychological Writings · doi:10.24310/espsiescpsi.v12i2.9984 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Andrade, S. B., Greve, J., & Lesner, R. V. (2024) · Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1007/s10389-024-02302-2 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Replication of a Rank-Framed Social Norms Experiment
Pariera, K. L. (2018) · Communication Studies · doi:10.1080/10510974.2018.1462839 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“However, both countries have similarly high rates of drinking (World Health Organization, 2011), and traditional social norms research has been found to decrease drinking in both countries (Bewick et al., 2010; Borsari & Carey, 2003; Perkins, 2015; Robinson, Jones, Christiansen, & Field, 2014).”
BackgroundKhadjesari, Z. (2012) · UCL Discovery (University College London) · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Liu, C., Fuller‐Tyszkiewicz, M., Linardon, J., Jarman, H. K., & Messer, M. (2025) · Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science · doi:10.1007/s41347-025-00553-8 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Krokos, O., Brandhorst, I., Gawrilow, C., & Löchner, J. (2025) · Internet Interventions · doi:10.1016/j.invent.2025.100874 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“A similar trend of higher drop-out rates in intervention groups has also been reported in other online intervention studies (Andersson, 2002; Bewick et al., 2010; Geraghty et al., 2010), with group membership being a significant predictor of adherence and consequently study drop-out (Beatty and…”
Swartz, J. A. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-55980-3_3 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Trauma and alcohol characteristics related to high intensity binge drinking during college
Zakeri, S. E., Job, G. A., Bing‐Canar, H., Hallihan, H., Paltell, K. C., & Berenz, E. C. (2022) · Journal of American College Health · doi:10.1080/07448481.2022.2114802 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Riper, H. M., Andersson, G., Christensen, H. M., Cuijpers, P. J., Lange, A., & Eysenbach, G. (2010)
Heather, N., Partington, S., Partington, E., Longstaff, F., Allsop, S., Jankowski, M. D., Wareham, H., St, A., & Gibson, C. (2011)
Hildebrand, J., Maycock, B. R., Howat, P. M., Burns, S. K., ALLSOP, S. J., & Lobo, R. C. (2013)
BROWN, R. M. A. (2016) · ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University)
The Role of Social Norms in the Structural Model Explaining Alcohol Use Among Students
Brutovská, M. (2018) · Drustvena istrazivanja · doi:10.5559/di.27.4.02
“…of measuring Several (due to the existence of different reference groups) Measure Consistently with items measuring cognitive attitudes towards AU (Bewick et al., 2010) Subscales/factors (M/SD) None (3.00/1.67) Number of items 2 Examples of the items and "Which of the following statements do you…”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialBurt, H. (2021) · cIRcle (University of British Columbia) · doi:10.14288/1.0401765
Bedendo, A., Ferri, C. P., de Souza, A. A. L., Andrade, A. L. M., & Noto, A. R. (2018) · doi:10.2196/preprints.9628
Mugambi, L. K., & Howcutt, S. J. (2026) · Journal of Social Marketing · doi:10.1108/jsocm-03-2025-0072
Ghosh, A., George, B. B., Krishnan, N. C., Pillai, R. S., Kathirvel, S., Sharma, M., Kumar, A., Basu, D., & Schaub, M. P. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1732518
- Authors
- Bewick, B. M., West, R., Gill, J., O'May, F., Mulhern, B., Barkham, M., & Hill, A. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Leeds (GB)
- Queen Margaret University (GB)
- University of Sheffield (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Bewick, Bridgette M
- Venue
- Journal of Medical Internet Research
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2010-12-19
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- e59
- ISSN
- 1438-8871 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3057315
- OpenAlex
- W2101334069
- Cited by
- 99
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 4.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Journal of Medical Internet Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Edinburgh Napier Research Repository (Edinburgh Napier University) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Queen Margaret University Publications Repository (Queen Margaret University) (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Queen Margaret University Publications Repository (Queen Margaret University) (submittedVersion)
- Edinburgh Napier Research Repository (Edinburgh Napier University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Keywords
- student alcohol use, online intervention, personalized feedback, alcohol consumption reduction, university students, help-seeking, alcohol screening, readiness to change, alcohol monitoring, intervention completion, gender differences in drinking, auditing, treatment effect generalizability, treatment effect heterogeneity
- MeSH terms
- Alcohol Drinking, Computer-Assisted Instruction, Female, United Kingdom, Health Education, Humans, Male, Patient Compliance, Self-Help Groups, Social Perception, Students, Therapy, Computer-Assisted, Program Evaluation, Health Behavior, Treatment Outcome, Alcohol-Related Disorders, Internet, Feedback, Psychological, Young Adult
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