A Web-Based Coping and Alcohol-Intervention Program for Adolescents Having Parents with Alcohol Problems: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Introduction: Approximately 20% of all Swedish children grow up with a problem-drinking parent which may affect children negatively. Most Swedish municipalities therefore provide resources for support. However, less than 2% of these children receive this support, mainly due to difficulties in identifying and recruiting children into support programs. Delivering intervention programs to this target group via the Internet is a promising strategy. Here, we report preliminary results from a study of a novel web-based intervention targeted to adolescents having parents with alcohol problems. The purpose of the program is to strengthen adolescents’ coping behavior, improve their mental health, and postponing the onset or decreasing risky alcohol consumption.

Methods: The program is currently being tested in an RCT including at least 183 15–19 year olds randomly allocated into a treatment group or a waiting list control group. Participants are mainly recruited via Facebook ads and adolescents are screened using the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST-6). The assessment consists of a baseline measurement (t0) and two follow-ups after two (t1) and six months (t2). Measures include the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-DC), a coping behavior scale, and the short version of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-C).

Results: To date, almost 2925 adolescents have completed the screening questionnaire, whereof 205 participants (17%), out of 1229 eligible adolescents, gave informed consent and completed t0. Results reveal that about 35% of the participants have t0-scores indicating moderate depression and 43% have scores indicating severe depression; 42% have scores indicating dysfunctional coping behavior and 37% have risky alcohol consumption patterns. Data from t1 (n=53) show no statistically significant difference between groups with regards to mental health or coping behavior. A significant difference between groups is observed with regards to the participants own alcohol consumption as the control group participants had higher AUDIT-C scores relative the treatment group (U=461, p=0.011, two-tailed). Recruitment will continue throughout 2013 and complete t0 and t1 data will be available during early march 2014 and complete t2 data will be available during the summer 2014.

Conclusions: There is an urgent need for developing and evaluating web-based intervention programs targeting children having problem-drinking parents. This study therefore makes an important contribution to this novel field of research.