Brief Intervention Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior to Reduce Alcohol Consumption in University Students
Condition: Alcohol; Harmful Use
MeSH terms: Alcohol Drinking
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Brief behavioral intervention designed from the guidelines of the Theory of Planned Action
      (TAP) of Ajzen (1991). It has the general objective of reducing the intention and hazardous
      and harmful consumption of alcohol in young university students in the first year of their
      undergraduate degree. The following specific objectives are considered: (a) Impact on the
      personal and descriptive norm by modifying the perception of the actual use of alcohol and
      its level of acceptance among the population of university students. (b) Modify attitudes
      towards consumption by reducing the value attributed to the expectations associated with
      risky alcohol consumption. (c) Increase perceived behavioral control and self-efficacy to
      avoid alcohol consumption behavior by: establishing a goal, consumption planning, and
      increase assertive communication.(d) Reduce the negative consequences of the use of alcohol
      in different situations of young people through pleasant healthy activities. e) Increase the
      intention to seek help for alcohol-related problems.The intervention will be developed
      through 3 phases. The first phase corresponds to the pre-intervention evaluation, the second
      phase concerns the two intervention sessions and the third phase is the post-intervention
      evaluation. Hypothesis: The mean alcohol consumption will be lower in young adults with
      hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption in the experimental group who received a brief
      online intervention compared to the control group.
    

Detailed description: 
      The hazardous and harmful consumption of alcohol in university students is a public health
      problem, as shown by various international studies. The consequences of consumption, the
      harmful effects of alcohol, impact various areas of the lives of young adults and those close
      to them, among which can be mentioned the increased risk of physical harm, legal problems,
      breach of school, relational responsibilities, negative social interactions, and processing
      can also be affected cognitive.

      The WHO's report of Independent High-Level Commission on Noncommunicable Diseases states that
      national governments and cities should participate in measures related to noncommunicable
      diseases, including discouraging the harmful use of alcohol and promote mental health. The
      global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol includes support for screening and
      preventive interventions related to hazardous alcohol use in primary health care and other
      settings. In Mexico, the General Health Law in its article 185, establishes the program for
      the prevention, reduction, and treatment of the harmful use of alcohol, attention to
      alcoholism, the prevention of diseases derived from it. Among its actions is the promotion of
      prevention, early detection, guidance, care, referral and treatment services for people and
      groups with harmful use of alcohol, avoiding all forms of stigmatization. The Official
      Mexican Standard 028 for the prevention, treatment, and control of addictions, refers to
      prevention as those actions aimed at reducing the non-therapeutic consumption of psychoactive
      substances and indicates that preventive programs must have a theoretical and methodological
      framework; include vulnerable populations, considering mainly the youth population.

      From the international and national scene, the need to preventively attend to the harmful
      consumption of alcohol is evident, emphasizing the youth population. As measures in such
      circumstances, online interventions have been effective in reducing risky alcohol
      consumption, the Anglo-Saxon scientific literature supports the use of the Internet to carry
      out interventions aimed at reducing alcohol consumption in university students. In Latin
      America, a first systematic review on brief interventions reported that the interventions
      studied were given in a traditional face-to-face format, most of them in Brazil and Mexico,
      with heterogeneous theoretical and methodological approaches used, however, using the
      internet as a means to carry out brief interventions can be beneficial for university
      students who are in regions where there is little information on alcohol consumption or for
      students who have difficulties participating in face-to-face strategies, the brief
      interventions can serve as health literacy tools mental health that encourage young people to
      seek early help.

      There is increasing evidence that public health interventions based on theories of social and
      behavioral sciences are more effective than those that do not have such a theoretical basis,
      the theory is a fundamental element of behavioral interventions, theories explain the
      pathways that lead or predict behavior and thus provide guidance on how to influence or
      modify said behavior.

      The Theory of Planned Action is a strong theoretical basis for developing interventions to
      make changes in health-related behaviors. According to TAP, behavior is preceded by
      intentions, which in turn are shaped by attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral
      control. Attitudes are made up of behavioral beliefs (beliefs about the results of behavior
      and the evaluation of these results), the subjective norm is made up of normative beliefs,
      that is, beliefs about the normative expectations of others and the motivation to comply with
      them. these expectations, perceived behavioral control is integrated from control beliefs
      (beliefs about the presence of factors that can facilitate or hinder behavior), the perceived
      behavioral control construct is compatible with Bandura's perceived self-efficacy , which
      refers to the perception of confidence in being able to carry out a behavior, beliefs of
      self-efficacy or perceived behavioral control are located by TAP in a framework of
      relationships between attitudes, beliefs, intentions and behavior.

      Study Design:

      An experimental methodology is contemplated with an experimental group and a control group on
      a waiting list, with pre and post evaluation.

      Population, sampling and sample:

      The population will be made up of university students. The participants will be first-year
      university students. Through the G Power program, it is considered that for an effect size of
      .80, with a significance level of 0.05 and .80 power, each group (control and experimental)
      should be made up of 26 participants, 52 participants in total.

      Procedure for data collection:

      Quality assurance plan. In accordance with the Good Clinical Practices: Document of the
      Americas, procedures were developed for each of the four phases of the study
    

Intervention name(s): Brief Intervention Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior to Reduce Alcohol Consumption in University Students
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Cognitive-behavioral intervention where the key concepts of the Theory of Planned Behavior were operationalized from which two intervention sessions were formed and the most appropriate techniques were chosen to influence the key concepts of the theory: behavioral beliefs, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and self-efficacy. The program is made up of 3 evaluation sessions (pre and post a month later) and 2 intervention sessions with a duration of 120 minutes each.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Experimental methodology with experimental group and control group on waiting list.
Masking: Double (Participant, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Brief online intervention; Planned Behavior Theory; Hazardous and harmful use of alcohol; University Students