The more the merrier: a meta-analysis of efficacy of multi-behavior interventions to reduce substance use

Objective: Death and morbidity associated with substance use have risen continuously over last few decades, increasing the need for rigorous examination of promising programs. Interventions attempting to change multiple behaviors are a new approach designed to address interconnected problems such as the misuse of both alcohol and drugs. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the efficacy of multi-behavior interventions in the substance use domain. Moreover, our synthesis estimated the optimal number of recommendations for intervention efficacy and explored the influence of factors associated with the types of samples or methods used in the synthesized studies. Methods: A research synthesis of multi-target interventions addressing substance-use was conducted to measure change in both behavioral and clinical outcomes between the pretest and follow-up. Results: Fifty-two reports (k = 110, n = 19,991) were included in our analysis. Change across all groups was d = 0.30 (CI = [0.23, 0.30]) for overall outcomes, d = 0.31 (CI = [0.24, 0.38]) for behavioral outcomes, and d = 0.22 (CI = [0.09, 0.35]) for clinical outcomes. Multi-behavior interventions were especially efficacious when targeting at-risk samples, targeting ethnic minority groups, and were culturally appropriate. Furthermore, findings indicated that the number of targeted behaviors was linearly related to intervention efficacy, with interventions that recommended four or more behaviors being the most efficacious. Conclusions: In the midst of the current substance use epidemic, innovative multi-behavior programs appear to hold promise and should be implemented more widely to establish effectiveness in other settings.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2018

Author dc:creator

• Dai, Wenhao

Contributors dc:contributor

• Albarracín, Dolores

• Meta-analysis
• substance use
• alcohol
• integrated interventions

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2018 Wenhao Dai

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/101721

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/101721