Testing a Brief, Efficacy-Based Intervention to Improve Early Recovery from Alcohol Use

The present study tested an innovative, web-based intervention aimed at individuals in the early stages of recovery from alcohol use. The intervention was designed to enhance participants' abstinence self-efficacy beliefs and consequently reduce subsequent alcohol consumption. The study also examined the applicability of Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) as a model of behavior change within the context of early alcohol recovery. Participants (n = 250) were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (n = 125) or the control group. Those in the experimental group were required to complete daily efficacy-building activities, each lasting approximately 5-10 minutes, over a 14-day period. Data were collected at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and at a 1-month follow-up to evaluate the sustainability of any changes in self-efficacy beliefs or drinking behavior. Results indicated an increase in self-efficacy beliefs across both experimental and control groups, with no significant effect attributable to random assignment. Additionally, the reduction in alcohol consumption observed across all conditions was not linked to changes in self-efficacy beliefs. The study found limited support for SCT as a theoretical framework for behavior change in this context. Future research on efficacy-based interventions may benefit from increasing the conceptual distinctions between experimental and control conditions. Moreover, the study suggests the potential for expanding the SCT framework to incorporate relevant recursive processes that may influence efficacy beliefs, which are not fully addressed in the static SCT model.

Author

• Balaguer, Matthew Torres

Language

• English

Keyword

• Early Recovery
• Self Efficacy
• Alcohol Use Disorder

Date created

• 2024

Type of Work

• Dissertation

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Clinical Psychology

Degree

• Ph.D.

Advisor

• Ganiban, Jody
• Howe, George

Committee Member(s)

• Dodge, Tonya
• Yeung, Ellen
• Wright, Fay
• Stock, Michelle

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/2514nm45d