The effectiveness of a web-based brief alcohol intervention in reducing heavy drinking among adolescents aged 15 to 20 years with a low educational background: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.
BACKGROUND
The serious negative health consequences of heavy drinking among adolescents is cause for concern, especially among adolescents aged 15 to 20 years with a low educational background. In the Netherlands, there is a lack of alcohol prevention programs directed to the drinking patterns of this specific target group. The study described in this protocol will test the effectiveness of a web-based brief alcohol intervention that aims to reduce alcohol use among heavy drinking adolescents aged 15 to 20 years with a low educational background.


METHODS
The effectiveness of the What Do You Drink (WDYD) web-based brief alcohol intervention will be tested among 750 low-educated, heavy drinking adolescents. It will use a two-arm parallel group cluster randomized controlled trial. Classes of adolescents from educational institutions will be randomly assigned to either the experimental (n = 375: web-based brief alcohol intervention) or control condition (n = 375: no intervention). Primary outcomes measures will be: 1) the percentage of participants who drink within the normative limits of the Dutch National Health Council for low-risk drinking, 2) reductions in mean weekly alcohol consumption, and 3) frequency of binge drinking. The secondary outcome measures include the alcohol-related cognitions, attitudes, self-efficacy, and subjective norms, which will be measured at baseline and at one and six months after the intervention.


CONCLUSIONS
This study protocol presents the study design of a two-arm parallel-group randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the WDYD web-based brief alcohol intervention. We hypothesized a reduction in mean weekly alcohol consumption and in the frequency of binge drinking in the experimental condition, resulting from the web-based brief alcohol intervention, compared to the control condition.


BACKGROUND
Netherlands Trial Register NTR2971.
Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Montessorilaan 3, 6525 HR, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. c.voogt@bsi.ru.nl
Carmen V
CV
Voogt
Evelien A P
EA
Poelen
Lex A C J
LA
Lemmers
Rutger C M E
RC
Engels
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D003071:Cognition; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009426:Netherlands; D011314:Preventive Health Services; D012107:Research Design; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult