title: Individual and situational factors that influence the efficacy of personalized feedback substance use interventions for mandated college students.
abstract: Little is known about individual and situational factors that moderate the efficacy of personalized feedback interventions (PFIs). Mandated college students (N = 348) were randomly assigned either to a PFI delivered in the context of a brief motivational interview (BMI; n = 180) or to a written PFI only (WF) condition and were followed up at 4 months and 15 months postintervention. The authors empirically identified heterogeneous subgroups utilizing mixture modeling analysis based on heavy episodic drinking and alcohol-related problems. The 4 identified groups were dichotomized into an improved group (53.4%) and a nonimproved group (46.6%). Logistic regression results indicated that the BMI was no more efficacious than the WF across all mandated students. However, mandated students who experienced a serious incident requiring medical or police attention and those with higher levels of alcohol-related problems at baseline benefited more from the BMI than from the WF. It may be an efficacious and cost-effective approach to provide a written PFI for low-risk mandated students and an enhanced PFI with a BMI for those students who experience a serious incident or have higher baseline alcohol-related problems.
authors.affiliation: Center of Alcohol Studies, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 607 Allison Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. eymun@rci.rutgers.edu
authors.forename: Eun Young
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Mun
authors.forename: Helene R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Morgan
mesh_terms: D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D005246:Feedback; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D037141:Mandatory Programs; D011614:Psychotherapy, Brief; D012931:Social Environment; D013334:Students; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014495:Universities