Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 5, 2026
A Prediction Error-driven Retrieval Procedure for Destabilizing and Rewriting Maladaptive Reward Memories in Hazardous Drinkers
Published on: January 5, 2018
Brief motivational enhancement intervention to prevent or reduce postpartum alcohol use: a single-blinded, randomized
Doris McGartland Rubio1, Nancy L Day2, Joseph Conigliaro3
1Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Data Center, Center for Research on Health Care, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Aims:
The aim of this study is to assess the effect of brief motivational enhancement intervention postpartum alcohol use.
Design:
This study is a single-blinded, randomized controlled effectiveness trial in which pregnant women were assigned to receive usual care or up to 5 face-to-face brief motivational enhancement sessions lasting 10-30 minutes each and occurring at study enrollment, 4 and 8 weeks after enrollment, 32 weeks of gestation, and 6 weeks postpartum.
Setting:
The setting is in a large, urban, obstetrics clinic.
Participants:
Participants were women who were ≥ 18 years old, <20 weeks of gestation, and consumed alcohol during pregnancy. Of 3438 women screened, 330 eligible women were assigned to usual care (n = 165) or intervention (n=165). Due to missing data, we analyzed 125 in the intervention group and 126 in the usual care group.
Measurements:
The measurements were the proportion of women with any alcohol use and the number of drinks per day, reported via follow-up telephone interviews at 4 and 8 weeks after enrollment, 32 weeks of gestation, and 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months postpartum.
Findings:
In random effects models adjusted for confounders, the intervention group was less likely to use any alcohol (odds ratio 0.50; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.23-1.09; P=0.08) and consumed fewer drinks per day (coefficient -0.11; 95% CI -0.23-0.01; P=0.07) than, the usual care group in the postpartum period but these differences were non-significant. Missing data during the prenatal period prevented us from modeling prenatal alcohol use.
Conclusions:
Brief motivational enhancement intervention delivered in an obstetrical outpatient setting did not conclusively decrease alcohol use during the postpartum period.
