A Media Based Motivational Intervention to Prevent Alcohol Exposed Pregnancies (AEPs)
Condition: Alcohol Consumption; Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorders; Students
MeSH terms: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders; Alcohol Drinking
Study type: Interventional
Phase: Phase 2

Summary: 
      The study evaluated the effectiveness of a mail-based self-guided motivational intervention
      based on Project CHOICES to reduce alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEP) with female students and
      non-students 18 to 44 years of age living in Florida. The investigators hypothesize that the
      motivational intervention will significantly reduce more women's risk of an AEP than will an
      informational intervention aimed at preventing fetal alcohol syndrome. Materials will be
      available in Spanish and English
    

Detailed description: 
      The proposed project will evaluate the effectiveness of a mail-based self-guided motivational
      intervention based on Project CHOICES to reduce alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEP) among
      students and non-students. Participants will be women 18 to 44 years of age who are at risk
      of an AEP. The community targeted will be the state of Florida. Materials were available in
      Spanish and English The intervention will be based on the investigators' previous experience
      in (a) promoting self-change of drinking behavior at a community level and (b) preventing
      reduced risk for AEP through the use of a motivational interventional materials used in
      Project CHOICES. Using a 2 group randomized design, the self-guided motivational intervention
      will be compared to an intervention directed at preventing fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). The
      FAS prevention condition, a brochure developed by the CDC, served as the standard treatment
      control group in that most information available at the community level concerning the
      effects of alcohol on the developing fetus relate to FAS (e.g., warning labels on alcoholic
      beverage containers). It is suggested that many women, particularly college students, at risk
      for AEP do not view themselves as at risk for FAS and therefore do not view FAS-oriented
      prevention messages as personally relevant. The proposed experimental design will evaluate a
      mail-based strategy that could be easily implemented throughout communities. The proposed
      study design will have more methodological rigor and allow a more careful evaluation than
      would be possible if the intervention was initially targeted at the entire community. The
      follow-up will be the entire 6-months post-intervention.If successful, this low-cost
      intervention can be readily disseminated throughout the local area. Specific objectives are
      as follows:

        1. Develop an evidence-based intervention to reduce alcohol-exposed pregnancies that can be
           easily disseminated at a community level through the mail and other media outlets.

        2. Implement the AEP prevention intervention using a randomized controlled trial with women
           recruited from a community at higher than normal risk for AEPs.

        3. Evaluate the efficacy of the AEP prevention intervention for reducing AEP risk as
           compared to a community level intervention aimed at preventing FAS using the 3 primary
           outcome measures in previous Project CHOICES studies: (a) AEP reduced risk through
           reduced drinking or effective contraception, or both; (b) AEP reduced risk through
           drinking only; and (c) reduced risk through effective contraception only.

        4. Disseminate results of the study to health care providers in the local community.
    

Intervention name(s): Self-guided Motivational Intervention; Informational Only
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Using a randomized two-group design, a self-guided motivational intervention based on Project CHOICES will be compared to an informational only intervention, both directed at preventing alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEPs) with students and nonstudents. Participants will be women 18 to 44 years of age who are at risk of an AEP. All materials are sent to participants through the USPS.; Using a randomized two-group design, an informational intervention using a brochure from the CDC will be compared to a self-guided motivational intervention based on Project CHOICES, both directed at preventing alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEPs) with students and nonstudents. Participants will be women 18 to 44 years of age who are at risk of an AEP. All materials are sent to participants through the USPS
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Prevent Alcohol Exposed Pregnancies; Reduced Alcohol Used; Self-Guided Motivational Intervention; Effective Contraception; Contraception; College Students