A Comparison between Telehealth and Face-to-Face Delivery of a Brief Alcohol Intervention for College Students

Abstract

Background Problematic alcohol use is a common occurrence among college students. While empirically supported interventions exist, their access is typically limited to those with greater resources. There has been an expansion of services provided via telehealth to increase client access to treatment in the health care field. However, the evidence is mixed regarding the effectiveness of face-to-face versus telehealth interventions and there is a gap in the literature regarding brief alcohol interventions delivered via telehealth. As such, the purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a well-validated brief alcohol screening and intervention for college students (BASICS) when conducted face-to-face or through a videoconferencing system. Method Participants included 51 college students who engaged in heavy episodic drinking (5+ drinks for males and 4+ drinks for females over a two hour period) over the last two weeks. They were randomly assigned to receive the face-to-face or telehealth intervention and completed a variety of questionnaires throughout. Follow up data on the participant's alcohol use and alcohol-related problems was collected at 1-, 2-, and 3-months. Multilevel modeling in SAS was utilized for analyses, which included the modeling of treatment outcome trajectories and the influence of predictors on the trajectory of change for each outcome. Results Results indicated that the intervention significantly reduced alcohol consumption and related problems regardless of condition. Both conditions saw an increase in treatment satisfaction and therapeutic alliance between the two sessions. Increased therapeutic alliance resulted in greater decreases in alcohol use and related harm across both conditions. Additionally, those with a mental health diagnosis showed greater improvement related to risk reduction for both treatment modalities. Conclusion In sum, the results of this study suggest that telehealth services should be further implemented and the BASICS intervention can be effectively delivered via telehealth for college students.

Effectiveness of Individual Real-Time Video Counseling on Smoking, Nutrition, Alcohol, Physical Activity, and Obesity Health Risks: Systematic Review

“…Four studies focused on individual video counseling for smoking cessation [ 31 , 70 - 72 ], 3 studies focused on alcohol consumption [ 73 - 75 ], 3 studies focused on physical activity [ 76 - 78 ], and 3 studies focused on obesity [ 79 - 81 ]. No trial examined the effectiveness of real-time video counseling on nutrition.…”

“…Most trials were funded by grants from the government [ 76 , 77 , 79 - 81 ] or university [ 71 , 73 ]. One study reported receiving no funding [ 75 ], 1 study was funded by the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation [ 78 ], and 1 study was funded by CureApp Inc [ 72 ]. All 13 studies were published from 2010 onward.…”

“…Multimedia Appendix 2 [ 73 - 75 ] provides a detailed description of the study characteristics. One study was conducted in Denmark [ 73 ] and the other 2 studies were conducted in the United States [ 74 , 75 ].…”

“…Multimedia Appendix 2 [ 73 - 75 ] provides a detailed description of the study characteristics. One study was conducted in Denmark [ 73 ] and the other 2 studies were conducted in the United States [ 74 , 75 ]. Participants were recruited from public outpatient alcohol clinics [ 73 ], a web-based research participation system for undergraduate students [ 75 ], and community supervision offices for people with substance abuse [ 74 ].…”

Computer‐assisted psychological assessment and psychotherapy for collegians

“…Students were randomly assigned to the online version of G. Alan Marlatt's Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS; Marlatt et al, ), or a parent‐based Intervention only, or both a BASICS and parent‐based intervention, or a control group. Students in the BASICS intervention showed lower blood alcohol levels and reported having fewer drinks on the weekends than controls, whereas students assigned to the parent‐based intervention did not differ from the control group (King, ; Turrisi et al, ). Students in the combined condition had the best outcomes, with scores on the dependent variables significantly less than BASICS interventions (Turrisi et al, ).…”