Two fully automated web-based interventions for risky alcohol use: randomized controlled trial
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Excessive alcohol use is a widespread problem in many countries, especially among young people. To reach more people engaging in high-risk drinking behaviors, a number of online programs have been developed in recent years. Change Your Drinking is a German, diary-based, fully automated alcohol intervention. In 2010, a revised version of the program was developed. It is more strongly oriented to concepts of relapse prevention than the previous version, includes more feedback, and offers more possibilities to interact with the program. Moreover, the program duration was extended from 10 to 14 days. OBJECTIVE: This paper examines whether the revised version of Change Your Drinking is more effective in reducing alcohol consumption than the original version. METHODS: The effectiveness of both program versions was compared in a Web-based, open, randomized controlled trial with follow-up surveys 6 weeks and 3 months after registration. Participants were recruited online and were randomly assigned to either the original or the revised version of Change Your Drinking. The following self-assessed outcomes were used: alcohol use days, alcohol intake in grams, the occurrence of binge drinking and risky drinking (all referring to the past 7 days prior to each survey), and the number of alcohol-related problems. RESULTS: A total of 595 participants were included in the trial. Follow-up rates were 58.0% after 6 weeks and 49.6% after 3 months. No significant group differences were found in any of the outcomes. However, the revised version was used by more participants (80.7%) than the original version (55.7%). A significant time effect was detected in all outcomes (alcohol use days: P=.002; alcohol intake in grams: P<.001; binge drinking: P<.001; alcohol-related problems: P=.004; risky drinking: P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: The duration and complexity of the program played a minor role in reducing alcohol consumption. However, differences in program usage between the versions suggest the revised version was more attractive to participants. TRIAL REGISTRATION: International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN): 31586428; http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN31586428/ (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6BFxApCUT).
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At 3-month follow-up, both Change Your Drinking groups showed a decrease in number of days of use per week, quantity of alcohol, and number of episodes of heavy drinking, with no difference between the two interventions.
“3-month follow-up: Both groups show ↓ in number of days of use/week, qty of alcohol, number of episodes of heavy drinking, with no difference between the two interventions.”
From Online and Mobile Interventions for Problem Gambling, Alcohol, and Drugs: A Systematic Review (2017) · cites this paper as Tensil et al. (2013)
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- Authors
- Tensil, M.-D., Jonas, B., & Strüber, E.
- Affiliations
- Aptiv (Germany) (DE)
- Bundesinstitut für Öffentliche Gesundheit (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Tensil, Marc-Dennan
- Venue
- Journal of Medical Internet Research
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2013-06-06
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- e110
- ISSN
- 1438-8871 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3720151
- OpenAlex
- W2134358088
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 1.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Journal of Medical Internet Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung
- 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
- risky alcohol use, online intervention, automated intervention, relapse prevention, binge drinking, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, youth, program effectiveness, program usage
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Alcohol Drinking, Automation, Female, Germany, Humans, Male, Risk-Taking, Internet, Young Adult
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