Single-case study of effectiveness of online intervention for problem drinkers

Abstract

Harmful alcohol consumption has significant negative consequences, both on a national and international level. Unfortunately, there is a considerable treatment gap for people exhibiting this problem, and this gap is present in Mexico. The majority of people experiencing problems with alcohol can benefit from brief interventions, and there is evidence that Internet-based, therapist guided, self-help interventions
can be effective in the treatment of alcohol problems. In addition, the use of information and communication technologies for the treatment of alcohol abuse has proven to be a valuable tool during the pandemic. The present work consisted in describing a brief intervention for problem drinkers, called Guided Self-Change, adapted to such an Internet format, as well as performing a quasi-experimental single case study design of one participant in order to obtain preliminary results of the intervention´s effectiveness. The results indicated that the treatment seemed to
decrease harmful drinking, as well as positively affecting related variables such as the perception of alcohol consumption severity, life satisfaction and willingness to change. Additionally, the usability of the Internet-based format was positively rated, indicating its potential acceptability. However, because of the limitations inherent to the quasi-experimental nature of the design, the findings are only tentative,
and need to be corroborated by replications, and more sophisticated study designs, such as those using multiple baselines, and/or randomized controlled trials.