Dataset Information

To drink or to drink less? Distinguishing between effects of implementation intentions on decisions to drink and how much to drink in treatment-seeking individuals with alcohol use disorder.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

For many people with alcohol use disorders, alcohol drinking is a highly ingrained and automatized behavior with negative long-term health consequences. Implementation intentions, a behavioral intervention that links high-risk drinking situations with alternative, healthier responses, provide a means to intervene on habitual drinking behaviors. Here, a pilot treatment using implementation intentions was assessed with remote assessments and treatment prompts.

Methods

Treatment-seeking individuals with alcohol use disorder between the ages of 18 and 65 were recruited from the community from October 2014 to November 2016. Participants (N=35) were quasi-randomly assigned to complete either active (n=18) or control (n=17) two-week implementation intention interventions. Active implementation intentions linked high-risk situations with alternative responses whereas the control condition selected situations and responses but did not link these together. Daily ecological momentary interventions of participant-tailored implementation intentions were delivered via text message. Alcohol consumption was assessed once daily with self-reported ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) of drinks consumed the previous day and thrice daily remotely submitted breathalyzer samples to assess reliability of self-reports.

Results

On drinking days (80% of days), the active implementation intentions group reduced alcohol consumption during the intervention period compared to the control condition; however the difference between consumption was not observed at one-month follow-up.

Discussion

The implementation intention intervention was associated with a 1.09 drink per day decrease in alcohol consumption on drinking days compared to a decrease of 0.29 drinks per day in the control condition. Future studies may combine implementation intentions with other treatments to help individuals to reduce alcohol consumption.

SUBMITTER: Moody LN

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5945346 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

To drink or to drink less? Distinguishing between effects of implementation intentions on decisions to drink and how much to drink in treatment-seeking individuals with alcohol use disorder.

Moody Lara N LN Tegge Allison N AN Poe Lindsey M LM Koffarnus Mikhail N MN Bickel Warren K WK

Addictive behaviors 20171110

<h4>Introduction</h4>For many people with alcohol use disorders, alcohol drinking is a highly ingrained and automatized behavior with negative long-term health consequences. Implementation intentions, a behavioral intervention that links high-risk drinking situations with alternative, healthier responses, provide a means to intervene on habitual drinking behaviors. Here, a pilot treatment using implementation intentions was assessed with remote assessments and treatment prompts.<h4>Methods</h4>T ...[more]

PMID: 29153992

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Project description:BackgroundThere are many reasons why individuals with depression may not seek help. Among those with elevated depressive symptomatology, some previous interventions aimed at increasing help-seeking have unintentionally decreased help-seeking intentions. Beck's cognitive theory of depression posits that individuals with elevated depressive symptomatology process information differently from those without depression (i.e., increased cognitive errors, negative bias); potentially explaining the iatrogenic results of previous interventions. Mental contrasting and implementation intentions (MCII; a self-regulatory strategy) interventions have successfully influenced physical and mental health behaviors. However, MCII has not been used specifically for initiating help-seeking for depression. The goal of this research was to ascertain whether an online MCII intervention could increase actual help-seeking or the intention to seek help for depression.MethodTwo online randomized pre-post experiments were conducted to measure the primary outcome measures 2 weeks post-intervention (Study 1 collected Summer 2019: information-only control ["C"], help-seeking MCII intervention ["HS"], and comparison MCII intervention ["E"]; Study 2 collected Winter 2020: "C" and "HS"). At Time 1, adults recruited from MTurk had a minimum Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) score of 14 (mild depressive symptoms) and were not seeking professional help.ResultsStudy 1 (N = 74) indicated that the intervention was feasible, provided preliminary support, and clarified intervention components for Study 2. Study 2 (N = 224) indicated that the HS group reported greater intentions to seek help and actual help-seeking than the C group. Proportionally, actual help-seeking was more likely among individuals who received the HS intervention and either did not perceive themselves as depressed at Time 2 or had BDI-II scores indicating that their depressive symptomatology decreased from Time 1.LimitationsParticipation was limited to US residents who self-reported data.DiscussionThese studies indicate that a brief online MCII intervention to encourage help-seeking is feasible and preliminarily successful. Future studies should consider using ecological momentary assessment measurements to establish the temporal precedence of intervention effects and whether MCII is effective for encouraging help-seeking among individuals prone to experiencing cognitive errors who may not be experiencing negative bias (e.g., bipolar disorder or anxiety). Clinicians may find this method successful in encouraging ongoing treatment engagement.

Project description:Many young people are reluctant to seek professional help for mental health problems, preferring to rely on their friends for support. It is therefore important to ensure that adolescents can identify signs of psychological distress in their peers, talk to them about these, and help them access appropriate services when necessary. The current study examined adolescents' ability to recognise symptoms of depression and alcohol misuse, perceived barriers to help-seeking, and their intentions to encourage a peer to seek help from a range of informal and formal help sources.The current study used baseline data from a randomised controlled trial of a school-based intervention that teaches adolescents how to overcome barriers to accessing professional help for mental health and substance use problems (MAKINGtheLINK). Participants (n = 2456) were presented with two vignettes portraying depression and alcohol misuse, respectively, and were asked to identify the problems described. Participants provided data on their past help-seeking behaviour, confidence to help a peer, perceived barriers to help-seeking, and intentions to encourage a peer to seek help.Health professionals were the main source of help that participants had relied on for depressive symptoms, followed by friends and parents. In contrast, friends were the main source of help that participants had relied on for alcohol and other drug problems, followed by health professionals and parents. Just over half of the sample correctly identified the problems described in the two vignettes, although the majority of participants were confident that they could talk to a peer and help them seek professional help if needed. Most agreed that the vignettes described problems that warranted professional help, however approximately half the sample was unsure or considered it unlikely that they would seek help if they experienced similar problems. For both disorders, participants were most likely to encourage a peer to seek help from their family, followed by formal help sources and friends.While the results point towards a greater willingness to approach formal help sources, particularly for depression, peers remain an important source of support for young people experiencing mental health and substance use problems.

Dataset Information

To drink or to drink less? Distinguishing between effects of implementation intentions on decisions to drink and how much to drink in treatment-seeking individuals with alcohol use disorder.

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

Publications

To drink or to drink less? Distinguishing between effects of implementation intentions on decisions to drink and how much to drink in treatment-seeking individuals with alcohol use disorder.

Similar Datasets

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