USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications
Randomized trial of motivational interviewing plus feedback for soldiers with untreated alcohol abuse.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2017
ISSN
0022-006X
Abstract
Objective: Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are prevalent in the military and are a major public health concern. Although efficacious AUD interventions exist, few service members seek treatment. Army-specific barriers to AUD treatment include treatment being recorded on health records, command being notified of participation, and perceptions that seeking treatment would interfere with promotion or retention in the military. Evaluate a telephone delivered motivational interviewing plus feedback (MIF) intervention designed to attract self-referral and reduce substance use from active-duty military with untreated AUD. Method: A randomized controlled trial enrolled 242 Army personnel who met criteria for AUD according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) and who were not engaged in AUD treatment. Participants were screened and assessed at baseline, 1-week, and 3- and 6-month follow-ups. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 1 session of MIF or psychoeducation (control). All participation occurred over the telephone. Primary outcomes included number of drinks per week, substance use disorder (SUD) diagnosis and consequences, and treatment-seeking behavior. Results: Generalized linear models were used to test group differences in drinking behaviors and substance use problems. Results indicated that all participants significantly reduced their drinking over time. MIF participants reported significantly fewer drinks per week than did control participants. Similarly, alcohol dependence diagnosis was marginally lower among MIF participants than control participants at the 6-month assessment. SUD treatment seeking significantly increased for both conditions. Conclusions: This novel adaptation of MIF shows promise for decreasing drinking and alcohol dependence among this high-risk sample of non-treatment-seeking soldiers and may complement existing AUD services already provided by the Army.
Language
en_US
Publisher
American Psychological Association
Recommended Citation
Walker, D., Walton, T., Neighbors, C., Kaysen, D., Mbilinyi, L., Darnell, J., Rodriguez, L. M., & Roffman, R. (2017). Randomized trial of motivational interviewing plus feedback for soldiers with untreated alcohol abuse. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 85, 99-110. doi: 10.1037/ccp0000148
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Comments
Abstract only. Full-text article is available through licensed access provided by the publisher. Members of the USF System may access the full-text of the article through the authenticated link provided.