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Incorporating Writing into a Personalized Normative Feedback Intervention to Reduce Problem Drinking Among College Students
Author(s) -
Young Chelsie M.,
Neighbors Clayton
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/acer.13995
Subject(s) - normative , psychological intervention , psychology , intervention (counseling) , heavy drinking , randomized controlled trial , cognition , brief intervention , alcohol , clinical psychology , social psychology , human factors and ergonomics , poison control , medicine , psychiatry , environmental health , philosophy , surgery , epistemology , biochemistry , chemistry
Background Personalized normative feedback ( PNF ) interventions have repeatedly been found to reduce drinking among undergraduates. However, effects tend to be small, potentially due to inattention to and inadequate processing of the information. Adding a writing component to PNF interventions may allow for greater cognitive processing of the feedback, thereby boosting intervention efficacy. Additionally, expressive writing ( EW ) has been shown to reduce drinking intentions; however, studies have not examined whether it can reduce drinking behavior. The present experiment evaluated whether including a writing task would improve the efficacy of PNF and whether EW alone can be used to reduce drinking and alcohol‐related problems. Methods Heavy drinking undergraduates ( N = 250) were randomized to receive either: (i) PNF about their alcohol use; (ii) EW about a negative, heavy drinking occasion; (iii) PNF plus writing about the norms feedback; or (iv) attention control feedback about their technology use in an online brief intervention. Participants ( N = 169) then completed a 1‐month follow‐up survey about their past month alcohol use and alcohol‐related problems online. Results PNF plus writing reduced alcohol‐related problems compared to all other conditions. No significant reductions were found for EW . Both PNF and PNF plus writing reduced perceived norms and perceived norms mediated intervention effects for both feedback conditions. Conclusions The current findings suggest that adding a writing component to traditional norms‐based feedback approaches might be an efficacious strategy, particularly for reducing alcohol‐related consequences.