Effects of 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 viathe Internet is a promising strategy. Here, we report results from a study of a novel web-based prevention intervention program 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: To investigate the effects of the program, we use a two-armed RCT design including 204 15–19 year olds allocated into a treatment group or a waiting list control group. Participants are recruited viathe Facebook 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, the short version of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-C), and the Ladder of Life.

Results:About 2600 15-19-year olds completed the screening, whereof 204, out of 1274 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; 43% have scores indicating dysfunctional coping behavior and 40% have risky alcohol consumption patterns. We are currently conducting analyses to investigate the effects of the program, and here we adopt both a per-protocol and intention-to-treat strategy. Results will be available during spring 2015.

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.