Timing Personalized Feedback After Alcohol Health Education

Heavy episodic alcohol use within the college student population is widespread, creating problems for student drinkers, their peers, and their institutions. Negative consequences from heavy alcohol use can be mild (e.g., hangovers, missed classes), to severe (e.g., assault, even death). Although online interventions targeting college student drinking reduce alcohol consumption and associated problems, they are not as effective as in-person interventions. Online interventions are cost-effective, offer privacy, reduce stigma, and may reach individuals who would otherwise not receive treatment.

In a recently completed randomized, controlled trial, an emailed booster with personalized feedback improved the efficacy of a popular online intervention (Braitman & Henson, 2016). A second randomized, controlled trial confirmed efficacy for students of legal drinking age for a longer timeline (Braitman & Lau-Barraco, 2018). Although promising, the booster incorporated in the study needs further empirical refinement.

The current project seeks to build on past progress by further developing and refining the booster. In particular, to identify the most efficacious timing for sending the feedback. The content will be similar across conditions, but will be disseminated at different times to identify the most impactful timeline. There will be 6 study conditions: those who receive the emailed feedback 2, 6, 10, or 14 weeks after baseline, or at all of those times, or not at all (control). Thus, the aim of the current study is to identify optimal timing for sending the tailored booster feedback via booster email.