Effectiveness of an email-based intervention helping parents to enhance alcohol-related parenting skills and reduce their children's alcohol consumption - A randomised controlled trial

摘要

Aims: Developing and evaluating an email-based intervention (EBI) to enhance alcohol-related parenting skills and reduce alcohol consumption among adolescents. Methods: Over four weeks, participating parents received a weekly email containing scientific findings, practical advice and exercises in relation to such topics as alcohol-related rule-setting and communication. Using a randomised controlled trial (ID: DRKS00007763), data from 467 parents and 173 adolescents were collected via self-report online questionnaires and analysed by means of repeated measures analysis of variance. Findings: Controlling for baseline, parents in the intervention group (IG) scored higher for being informed (parents of girls: F=19.023, p=0.000; parents of boys: F=30.294, p=0.000) and for self-efficacy (parents of girls: F=6.122, p=0.014; parents of boys: F=10.195, p=0.002) at follow-up and, in the case of boys, were more successful in maintaining strict rules on alcohol consumption (F=13.704, p=0.000) than parents in the control group (CG) (girls: F=1.627; p=0.204). Boys whose parents were in the IG reported less heavy episodic drinking at follow-up (F=4.192, p=0.043), controlled for baseline, than those with parents in the CG (girls: F=0.567; p=0.454). Conclusions: The EBI has positive effects on alcohol-related parenting and may reduce heavy episodic drinking among boys. Since it is delivered via email, the programme has considerable potential to reach many parents at low cost.