An Expressive Writing Randomized Controlled Trial for Reducing Drinking in College Students
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Published on: January 5, 2018
Clayton Neighbors1, Joanne Angosta2, Chelsie M Young1
1Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA.
Background:
This research evaluates expressive writing as a novel, theory-based brief intervention for heavy-drinking college students. This research considers expressive writing as a new paradigm for facilitating changes in drinking which may be equally or more effective and requires fewer resources to disseminate.
Methods:
Heavy-drinking college students were randomly assigned to one of six conditions based on a 2 (Alcohol vs. Distress) × 2 (Guilt vs. No-Guilt) + 1 (Neutral Control) + 1 (personalized normative [PNF] feedback) design. Participants completed a remote baseline survey, three weekly in-lab writing (or feedback) sessions, and remote follow-up surveys 1, 3, 6, and 12 months later. Efficacy was evaluated among 476 participants who completed all three writing sessions. Outcomes included typical weekly drinking, typical quantity consumed, peak quantity consumed, and alcohol-related consequences.
Results:
Results demonstrated partial support for hypotheses. Participants in the combined Alcohol condition reported fewer negative alcohol-related consequences compared to participants in the Neutral Control condition. Participants in the Alcohol-Guilt condition reported fewer alcohol-related consequences compared to participants in the Neutral Control and Distress-No-Guilt conditions.
Conclusions:
This research presents preliminary support for expressive writing as a novel intervention. This theory-based approach does not require any preassessment or programming of personalized feedback and is a less costly and more easily implementable alternative to existing brief alcohol interventions.
