e-SBI reduced hazardous drinking among university students, to an extent similar to that found for practitioner-delivered brief interventions in the general population. e-SBI offers promise as a strategy to reduce alcohol-related harm in a way that is non-intrusive, appealing to the target group, and capable of being incorporated into primary care. Research is required to replicate the findings, to determine the duration of intervention effects, and to investigate the mechanisms by which the intervention operates.

BackgroundParticipant reports of their own behaviour are critical for the provision and evaluation of behavioural interventions. Recent developments in brief alcohol intervention trials provide an opportunity to evaluate longstanding concerns that answering questions on behaviour as part of research assessments may inadvertently influence it and produce bias. The study objective was to evaluate the size and nature of effects observed in randomized manipulations of the effects of answering questions on drinking behaviour in brief intervention trials.Methodology/Principal FindingsMultiple methods were used to identify primary studies. Between-group differences in total weekly alcohol consumption, quantity per drinking day and AUDIT scores were evaluated in random effects meta-analyses.Ten trials were included in this review, of which two did not provide findings for quantitative study, in which three outcomes were evaluated. Between-group differences were of the magnitude of 13.7 (−0.17 to 27.6) grams of alcohol per week (approximately 1.5 U.K. units or 1 standard U.S. drink) and 1 point (0.1 to 1.9) in AUDIT score. There was no difference in quantity per drinking day.Conclusions/SignificanceAnswering questions on drinking in brief intervention trials appears to alter subsequent self-reported behaviour. This potentially generates bias by exposing non-intervention control groups to an integral component of the intervention. The effects of brief alcohol interventions may thus have been consistently under-estimated. These findings are relevant to evaluations of any interventions to alter behaviours which involve participant self-report.

More comprehensive studies with systematic methodologies in the world regions reviewed here are needed to yield representative results on alcohol use and related risk and protective factors in college settings. College students in many countries are at elevated risk for heavy drinking, with serious immediate health risks, such as drink-driving and other substance use; and longer term risks, such as alcohol dependence. The prevalence of hazardous drinking in Australasia, Europe and South America appears similar to that in North America, but is lower in Africa and Asia. Alcohol policies should be reviewed and prevention programmes initiated in light of research evidence, for this high-risk population.

Proactive Web-based screening and intervention reduces drinking in undergraduates, and such a program could be implemented widely.

AimsIn March 2008 the New South Wales judiciary restricted pub closing times to 3 a.m., and later 3.30 a.m., in the central business district (CBD) of Newcastle, Australia. We sought to determine whether the restriction reduced the incidence of assault.DesignNon-equivalent control group design with before and after observations.SettingNewcastle, a city of 530 000 people.ParticipantsPeople apprehended for assault in the CBD and nearby Hamilton, an area with a similar night-time economy but where no restriction was imposed.MeasurementsPolice-recorded assaults in the CBD before and after the restriction were compared with those in Hamilton. Cases were assaults occurring from 10 p.m.–6 a.m. from January 2001–March 2008, with April 2008–September 2009 as the post-restriction period. We also examined changes in assault incidence by time of night. Negative binomial regression with time, area, time × area interaction terms and terms for secular trend and seasonal effects was used to analyse the data. Autocorrelation was examined using generalized estimating equations.FindingsIn the CBD, recorded assaults fell from 99.0 per quarter before the restriction to 67.7 per quarter afterward [incidence rate ratio (IRR): 0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.55–0.80]. In the same periods in Hamilton, assault rates were 23.4 and 25.5 per quarter, respectively (IRR: 1.02, 95% CI: 0.79–1.31). The relative reduction attributable to the intervention was 37% (IRR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.47–0.81) and approximately 33 assault incidents were prevented per quarter.ConclusionThis study indicates that a restriction in pub closing times to 3/3.30 a.m. in Newcastle, NSW, produced a large relative reduction in assault incidence of 37% in comparison to a control locality.