Lessons from motivational interviewing based interventions targeting problematic drinking among college students

In the United States alcohol abuse is the third leading cause of preventable deaths, accounting for approximately 100,000 annual deaths. Concurrently, binge drinking is reportedly the largest public health concern affecting today's college students. This is of particular concern due to the first and second hand consequences associated with binge drinking and heavy alcohol use. To date, there have been varying approaches aimed at reducing heavy alcohol use and interventions using motivational interviewing (MI) have been noted as a commonly successful method. The purpose of this study was to derive lessons from motivational interviewing based interventions targeting heavy drinking college students published between 2003 and 2008. Studies were identified using Pubmed, ERIC and CINAHL and keywords included “Motivational,” “Intervention,” “College,” “Drinking.” A total of 11 interventions met the inclusion criteria for this review which included: (1) publication in English; (2) publication between 2003-2008; (3) a primary research article with a treatment condition using an MI-based approach; (4) the intervention was implemented in the college setting. Students receiving the interventions were generally heavy-drinkers, or adjudicated students. Based on this review MI-based interventions appear to be consistently effective at reducing alcohol use and drinking problems among college students, and high-risk subgroups. Many studies did not explicitly identify a behavioral theory, and antecedents of behaviors were rarely reported. Most of the interventions focused on enhancing student's motivation for decreasing alcohol consumption. Very few studies utilized randomized controlled design. Recommendations for future interventions are presented.