title: The stages of change questionnaire as a predictor of trauma patients most likely to decrease alcohol use.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Research has shown that negative trauma-related consequences of drinking can predict readiness to change drinking behavior. These findings are confined to patients with positive blood alcohol levels at admission. The current study extends such findings by examining whether stage of readiness to change among all adult trauma activations admitted to the emergency department for 24 hours or more can be used to predict a change in behavior at followup.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients 18 years of age or older admitted to a Level II trauma center between December 1, 2001, and January 31, 2003, with a trauma activation were eligible to participate. Enrolled patients were screened for alcohol use and readiness to change with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Short Form Stages of Change (SFSC), respectively, within 2 days of discharge. Blood alcohol level (BAL) was obtained for all study patients. Six to 18 months after discharge, patients were followed up with the AUDIT. The ability of the SFSC to predict change in alcohol behavior at followup was analyzed by multiple regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 253 eligible patients, 146 patients were enrolled and had BAL taken. Most were men (64%) and 36% were women. Mean positive BAL (n = 57) was 186 mg/dL (range 10 to 537 mg/dL). Of these, 23% (13 of 57) met AUDIT criteria for harmful drinking and 47% (27 of 57) met criteria for dependent drinking. Even among those with undetectable BAL (n = 89), harmful or dependent drinking was identified by the AUDIT for 11% (10 of 89). A readiness to change was common among those reporting harmful or dependent drinking (26%) at baseline. The SFSC independently and significantly predicted change in drinking behavior among the 72 patients with followup (p = 0.05). Patients indicating greater readiness to change at baseline were those more likely to decrease their consumption pattern at followup.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings suggest that administering the brief SFSC questionnaire to all trauma patients and providing assistance to those demonstrating a willingness to change may prove to be an effective strategy for reducing problem alcohol use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Michigan State University, College of Human Medicine, East Lansing, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Donald N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Reed
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Kimberly R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Barber
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kotlowski
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Montanez
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saxe
authors.forename: D Chris
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Coffey
authors.forename: Mischa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pollard
authors.forename: Hiram E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald
authors.forename: J David
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Richardson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000209:etiology*
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol