A text message program as a booster to in-person brief interventions for mandated college students to prevent weekend binge drinking.

CONFIDENCE intervals; COUNSELING; DRINKING behavior; ALCOHOL drinking; GOAL (Psychology); HEALTH education; PROBABILITY theory; RESEARCH funding; SEX distribution; TEXT messages; SECONDARY analysis; UNDERGRADUATES; BINGE drinking; DATA analysis software; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; ODDS ratio; PREVENTION; THERAPEUTICS

Objective: To evaluate a text message (SMS) program as a booster to an in-person alcohol intervention with mandated college students. Participants: Undergraduates (N = 224; 46% female) who violated an on-campus alcohol policy over a 2-semester period in 2014. Methods: The SMS program sent drinking-related queries each Thursday and Sunday and provided tailored feedback for 6 weeks. Response rates to SMS drinking-related queries and the associations between weekend drinking plans, drinking-limit goal commitment, and alcohol consumption were examined. Gender differences were explored. Results: Ninety percent of SMS queries were completed. Weekend binge drinking decreased over 6 weeks, and drinking-limit goal commitment was associated with less alcohol consumption. Compared with women, men had greater reductions in alcohol consumption when they committed to a drinking-limit goal. Conclusions: Preliminary evidence suggests that an SMS program could be useful as a booster for helping mandated students reduce weekend binge drinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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