A systematic review of binge drinking interventions and bias assessment among college students and young adults in high-income countries.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Bonsu, Laurencia Kumra, Priyambda Awan, Asma Sharma, Manoj
Copyright Year	2024
Abstract	Alcohol is the number one substance used by young people and people of college age. Binge drinking (BD) in this age group is considered one of the most important global health issues, as much harm accrues from it and even lives are lost. This study aimed to review the interventions to curb BD or encourage responsible drinking among college students and young adults. MEDLINE (PubMed), ERIC and APA PsycINFO were searched. The selected articles were published in English and had to evaluate a BD reduction program through a randomized control trial (RCT) among college students or young adults between the ages of 17–24 years. The exclusion criteria included research not published in English, systematic review articles, qualitative studies, designs other than RCTs and discussion articles on college students drinking with no findings. The three reviewers independently screened and extracted the data using the PRISMA guidelines. The overall quality of the studies was assessed. Then, 10 of the 12 interventions studied were found to be successful in reducing BD among college students, though the effect sizes were small to medium. A minority of the studies used behavior change theories. Effective interventions for reducing BD among college students and young adults should include robust behavior change theories, longer follow-up time and the operationalization of multiple outcomes. Process evaluation is needed to be conducted in these studies.
Related Links	https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC10988166&blobtype=pdf
Page Count	10
Volume Number	11
DOI	10.1017/gmh.2024.24
PubMed Central reference number	PMC10988166
PubMed reference number	38572263
Journal	Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health [Glob Ment Health (Camb)]
e-ISSN	20544251
Language	English
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Publisher Date	2024-02-23
Publisher Place	Cambridge, UK
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited. © The Author(s) 2024
Subject Keyword	binge drinking heavy episodic drinking interventions college students young adults problem drinking
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Psychiatry and Mental Health