Research Supports Internet-Based Interventions for Alcoholism

Internet-based interventions can significantly reduce alcohol consumption, according to a study published in the journal Addiction.

The study, which was published in 2009, investigated the effectiveness of the Check Your Drinking website (www.checkyourdrinking.net), an internet-based alcoholism intervention.

As the authors of this study explain, internet-based interventions such as Check Your Drinking (CYD) could be an important tool to combat alcoholism,

“Although internet-based interventions (IBIs) may never be as effective as a face-to-face encounter with a skilled clinician, the reality is that most problem drinkers will never receive a face-to-face intervention, in particular with a skilled clinician. The challenge then is to design interventions that can be accessed by problem drinkers and then to demonstrate their efficacy.”

To examine the effectiveness of the Check Your Drinking website, the authors of this study used a telephone survey to recruit 185 participants who reported signs of alcoholism. Of these 185, half received a letter with instructions telling them where and how to access the Check Your Drinking website. The other half of the participants were assigned to a control group.

The participants in the study were mailed three surveys that assessed their level of alcohol consumption: once at the beginning of the study and two follow-up surveys after three and six months.

Although the authors of this study were concerned about participants dropping out of the study or failing to mail back surveys, 92% of participants completed all three.

As the authors state, the study found that the internet-based intervention was very successful,

“Results from the trial are promising, with problem drinkers who were provided access to the CYD displaying a six to seven drinks per week reduction in drinking compared to controls (a 30% reduction in typical weekly drinking). The size of this reduction is of the same magnitude as has been observed in face-to-face brief interventions for problem drinking in primary health care settings.”

Reference:

Cunningham, J.A. Wild, T.C., Cordingley, J., Mierlo, T.V. & Humphreys, K. (2009). A randomized controlled trial of an internet-based intervention for alcohol abusers. Addiction, Vol 104: 2023–2032.