Motivational interviewing does not affect risk drinking among young women: A randomised,controlled intervention study in Swedish youth health centres

Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse risk and binge drinking at 12-month follow-up in young women with risk drinking who received motivational interviewing compared with controls. Methods: Young women attending Swedish youth health centres were randomised into intervention or control groups. The intervention group members were asked about their alcohol consumption by a midwife/social worker using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test Consumption. A score of ⩾5 was used as the cut-off value for risk drinking. Participants with risk drinking in the intervention group received motivational interviewing within the same visit. Participants in the control group had a regular visit with a midwife/social worker and answered the same questions about alcohol consumption in a questionnaire after their visit. A questionnaire with the same questions was administered to participants 12 months after baseline. Results: Of 1445 eligible young women, 1051 (73%) consented to randomisation and were enrolled in the study. The follow-up rate was 54%. There was a significant decrease in risk- and binge drinking, from baseline to follow-up, in both the intervention and the control groups. Generalised estimating equation analyses demonstrated no significant effect between groups. Of participants who did not have risk drinking at baseline, about 20% in both groups had developed high-risk drinking by the 12-month follow-up. Conclusions: No significant differences in risk drinking between young women who received motivational interviewing and controls were found. There was a large intra-individual mobility in young women’s risk drinking behaviour. This highlights the importance of finding reliable screening tools that can capture the mobility in drinking behaviour in youth. More research is needed before recommendations can be made.