Screening and Brief Interventions for Hazardous and Harmful Alcohol Use among University Students in South Africa: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial
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The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Screening and Brief Intervention (SBI) for alcohol problems among university students in South Africa. The study design for this efficacy study is a randomized controlled trial with 6- and 12-month follow-ups to examine the effects of a brief alcohol intervention to reduce alcohol use by hazardous and harmful drinkers in a university setting. The unit of randomization is the individual university student identified as a hazardous or harmful drinker attending public recruitment venues in a university campus. University students were screened for alcohol problems, and those identified as hazardous or harmful drinkers were randomized into an experimental or control group. The experimental group received one brief counseling session on alcohol risk reduction, while the control group received a health education leaflet. Results indicate that of the 722 screened for alcohol and who agreed to participate in the trial 152 (21.1%) tested positive for the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) (score 8 or more). Among the 147 (96.7%) university students who also attended the 12-month follow-up session, the intervention effect on the AUDIT score was −1.5, which was statistically significant (P = 0.009). Further, the depression scores marginally significantly decreased over time across treatment groups, while other substance use (tobacco and cannabis use), self-rated health status and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) scores did not change over time across treatment groups. The study provides evidence of effective brief intervention by assistant nurses with hazardous and harmful drinkers in a university setting in South Africa. The short duration of the brief intervention makes it a realistic candidate for use in a university setting.
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One study found brief interventions effective for those with higher severity alcohol problems in a South African college student population with relatively high socioeconomic status.
“One study found brief interventions effective for those with higher severity alcohol problems in a South African college student population with relatively high socioeconomic status (Pengpid et al., 2013).”
From Effectiveness of Nurse-Practitioner-Delivered Brief Motivational Intervention for Young Adult Alcohol and Drug Use in Primary Care in South Africa: A Randomized Clinical Trial (2014) · cites this paper as Pengpid et al., 2013
The Results (section 3.4) report that the brief intervention reduced alcohol use and had a greater effect in the possible alcohol-dependent group than in the high-risk group. The claim’s socioeconomic description is not supported: Table 1 (section 3.3) classifies a majority of participants in both study arms as having a poorer family background. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredWHO-based brief interventions were efficacious in reducing AUDIT average scores in university students.
“and AUDIT average scores in university students [81]”
From Patient-level interventions to reduce alcohol-related harms in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-summary (2022) · cites this paper as [81]
In the systematic review, 6 studies evaluated brief interventions in South Africa.
“In our systematic review, 6 studies evaluated brief interventions in South Africa [67,79–81,93,94].”
From Patient-level interventions to reduce alcohol-related harms in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-summary (2022) · cites this paper as [81]
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- Authors
- Pengpid, S., Peltzer, K., Van der Heever, H., & Skaal, L.
- Affiliations
- Mahidol University (TH)
- Human Sciences Research Council (ZA)
- Department of Health System Management and Policy, University of Limpopo (MEDUNSA Campus), Pretoria 0424, South Africa
- Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (ZA)
- Corresponding author
- Peltzer, Karl
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2013-05-21
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 2043-2057
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3709363
- OpenAlex
- W2088297005
- Cited by
- 63
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 4.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad
- VLIRUOS
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health and Lifestyle Studies
- Keywords
- screening and brief intervention, hazardous drinking, university students, nursing assistants, AUDIT screening, depression, tobacco use, cannabis use, post-traumatic stress disorder, self-rated health, South Africa
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Alcohol Drinking, Counseling, Female, Humans, Male, Mass Screening, South Africa, Students, Universities, Alcohol-Related Disorders, Risk Reduction Behavior, Young Adult
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