Brief Motivational Intervention to Reduce Alcohol and HIV/Sexual Risk Behavior in Emergency Department Patients

OBJECTIVE:

Given the prevalence of co-occurring risky sexual behavior and drinking among emergency department (ED) patients, we developed a motivational intervention (MI) to address both behaviors. This study tested efficacy of a single-session MI compared to brief advice (BA) for reducing heavy drinking and condomless sex in adult ED patients screening positive for both.

METHOD:

We randomized 372 patients to MI (n = 184) or BA (n = 188). Alcohol and sex risk outcomes were assessed over 9 months.

RESULTS:

Generalized estimating equations models analyzing 327 patients with follow-up data provided strong support for efficacy of this integrated alcohol and sex-risk MI. Compared to BA, and after controlling for baseline covariates, those in MI reported significantly fewer heavy drinking days, drinks per week, and were less likely to engage in excessive drinking over follow-up (all ps < .05). MI was also favored over BA for reducing sex risk. Compared to BA, those in MI reported significantly fewer days on which they engaged in condomless sex with casual partners, had lower odds of reporting any condomless sex with a casual partner, and reported fewer days of sex under the influence of alcohol/other drugs (all ps < .05).

CONCLUSION:

This innovative MI was acceptable, feasible, and successfully delivered in 2 community hospitals and thus shows great promise for scalability and dissemination into complex health settings where newly insured at-risk individuals are likely to seek care. 

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/ai3Yxk

By:  Monti PM, Mastroleo NR, Barnett NP, Colby SM, Kahler CW, Operario D.

J Consult Clin Psychol. 2016 Mar 17.

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Aggression-Related Alcohol Expectancies and Barroom Aggression among Construction Tradespeople

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS:

Few studies have investigated the relationship of barroom aggression with both general and barroom-specific alcohol expectancies. The present study investigated these associations in a rarely studied and high-risk population: construction tradespeople.

DESIGN AND METHODS:

Male construction tradespeople (n = 211) aged 18-35 years (M = 21.91, SD = 4.08 years) participated in a face-to-face questionnaire assessing general and barroom-specific alcohol expectancies and perpetration of physical and verbal barroom aggression as well as control variables, age, alcohol consumption and trait aggression.

RESULTS:

Sequential logistic regression analyses revealed that general alcohol-aggression expectancies of courage or dominance were not predictive of either verbal or physical barroom aggression after controlling for age, alcohol consumption and trait aggression. However, barroom-specific alcohol expectancies were associated with both verbal and physical barroom aggression, with positive associations found for expected hyper-emotionality and protective effects for expected cognitive impairment.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:

In a population where rates of risky drinking and barroom aggression are high, specific expectations about the effects of drinking in bars may influence subsequent aggressive behaviour in bars. 

Purchase full article at:  http://goo.gl/tCQ10V

By: Zinkiewicz L1, Smith G1, Burn M1, Litherland S1, Wells S1,2,3,4,5, Graham K1,2,3,4,6, Miller P1,2,6,7.

• 1School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
• 2Department of Social and Epidemiological Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada.
• 3Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
• 4Department of Psychology, Western University, London, Canada.
• 5Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Western University, London, Canada.
• 6National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia.
• 7National Addiction Centre, Maudsley Hospital/Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK. 

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Is It Dating Violence or Just "Drunken Behavior"? Judgments of Intimate Partner Violence When the Perpetrator Is Under the Influence of Alcohol

Previous research has shown a strong bias for laypersons to believe alcohol use and aggression to go hand-in-hand (see Quigley & Leonard, 2006 ). Furthermore, research has shown that alcohol use can be seen as a mitigating circumstance for aggression, resulting in a reduction of blame and accountability (Bullock, 2002 ; Katz & Arias, 2001 ; Tryggvesson, 2004 ).

The present study investigated observers' judgments of intimate partner violence (IPV) when the perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol. We hypothesized that participants would view violent behavior as more common and less abusive if they thought the perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol.

College students (n = 79) viewed a video depicting an increasingly abusive interaction between college-age dating partners (see Witte & Kendra, 2010 ) and half of the participants were lead to believe that the perpetrator was drinking alcohol prior to the interaction. Participants rated the videotaped vignette at four timepoints to assess the degree to which they believed the interaction was normal/common and abusive.

Observers judged the abusive behavior as more common and less abusive when alcohol was involved, but only for psychologically abusive behaviors and moderately severe physically abusive behaviors. 

The results of this study provide support for the notion that direct observers of IPV judge moderately abusive behavior as more common and less abusive when alcohol is involved. With this, theories concerning alcohol expectancies and interpretations of interpersonal violence can be more readily applied to real-life scenarios, such as in the validity of eye-witness testimony.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/jS52L4

By:  Witte TH1, Kopkin MR2, Hollis SD3.

• 1 Department of Human Development and Family Studies , University of Alabama , Tuscaloosa , Alabama , USA.
• 2 Department of Psychology , University of Alabama , Tuscaloosa , Alabama , USA.
• 3 Department of Psychology , University of Mississippi , Oxford , Mississippi , USA.

 

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