College student willingness for brief interventions in the emergency department

Background: In order to develop an effective emergency department (ED) structured brief intervention (SBI) for alcohol problems in a college student population we examined attitudes toward SBI and drinking behavior in a large Boston ED.

Methods: Using a convenience sample, a group of 40 undergraduate college students were surveyed (25 men, 15 women) presenting in the emergency department (ED) at a large urban hospital. All students were 21 years old or older. Twenty of these students were “cases” presenting with alcohol related problems while 20 were controls presenting with non-alcohol related problems. We collected information on willingness to participate in a brief intervention, what kind (person, computer), drinking behavior (quantity, frequency, binging), place of last drink and the AUDIT problem drinking scale.

Results: For cases, 62% were interested in a SBI while 45 % in the control group were interested (chisquare 4.32, p< .05). For those interested in SBI, computer based SBI was preferable for 40% of the cases and 60% of controls (chisquare 3.63, p < .05). The average audit score in cases was 6.4, compared to 4.6 in controls, (t=3.21, p < .05).

Conclusion: We found significant differences between case and control attitudes toward SBI both in regard to participating in an SBI and how it would be delivered. The relatively moderate level of interest for any kind of SBI in cases is of concern given that all of these people presented with serious alcohol intoxication. This information can help inform and improve SBI programs and research.