Unpacking Personalized Feedback: An Exploratory Study of the Impact of Its Components and the Reactions It Elicits Among Problem Drinking Men Who have Sex With Men

Abstract

Personalized feedback (PF) has demonstrated effectiveness in reducing drinking. Few studies have examined its effectiveness with adult problem drinkers or its potential mediators or moderators, including developing discrepancy. This study aimed to identify potential mediators and moderators of PF provided to adult problem drinking men who have sex with men (PDMSM). Method: An exploratory analysis of PF provided to PDMSM in the context of modified behavioral self-control therapy (N = 90). The association of individual items of PF, severity of PF, and independently rated, in-session participant reactions to PF with drinking outcomes (mean drinks per drinking day, MDDD) were examined using correlations and logistic and linear regression. Results: Significant pre–post differences in MDDD emerged. Other drug risk, family risk, and having an abnormal liver enzyme test result were significantly associated with proxies for developed discrepancy in expected directions; however, no PF item or reaction to PF predicted drinking outcomes. Severity of PF was not associated with participant reactions or drinking outcome. Conclusions: PF may be an effective intervention for PDMSM. Further research is needed to identify potential mediators and moderators of PF among adults.

Keywords:

• moderation
• personalized feedback
• mediators
• developing discrepancy

THE AUTHORS

Alexis Noel Kuerbis, LCSW, Ph.D., is clinical director of Columbia Addiction Services and Psychotherapy Intervention Research (CASPIR) and assistant professor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. She is a substance abuse specialist with more than 15 years experience in a variety of clinical, public health, and social services settings. Her research focuses on special populations struggling with substance abuse and dependence, including women on welfare, the LGBT community, and older adults. While at CASPIR, Dr. Kuerbis’ research has been focused on mechanisms of action within brief, moderation-focused treatments for problem drinking. She completed her doctoral degree in clinical social work at the Silver School of Social Work at New York University in 2009.

Katherine Schaumberg is a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at the University at Albany, State University of New York. She is currently completing her pre-doctoral internship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center/G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi. Katherine's research interests include the prevention of eating disorders and obesity, and the relationship between eating pathology and substance use.

Christine M. Davis currently has a part-time faculty position at the Rutgers School of Public Health, Department of Health Education and Behavioral Science, and is a research member of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. She is the project manager for the New Jersey Youth Tobacco Survey Data Collection Project funded by the NJ Department of Health. Christine also is employed at Columbia Addiction Services and Psychotherapy Intervention Research (CASPIR) as a biostatistician on a NIAAA-funded study (PI: Andrew C. Chen) investigating the interaction of pharmacotherapy and CBT with genotype, for problem drinkers. She received her Ph.D. in Statistics and Measurement in 2011. Her research interests include: methodological and statistical issues associated with the measurement and interpretation of tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use data; alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use treatment/intervention outcomes; and tobacco surveillance and survey research.

Lisa Hail is pursuing her doctorate in clinical psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University. She is interested in the mechanisms of behavior change in the treatment of eating and substance use disorders.

Jon Morgenstern, a specialist in the treatment of substance use disorders, is a professor of clinical psychology and director of Addiction Treatment in the Department of Psychiatry at the Columbia University Medical Center. He is also a vice president and director of Treatment Research at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA). Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia in 2004, Dr. Morgenstern was an associate professor of psychiatry and director of Addiction Treatment at the Mount Sinai Medical Center. He received his B.A. from Columbia University in 1977 and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from NYU in 1987. His research interests are in the area of cognitive behavioral treatment and the combination of medications and psychotherapy for substance use disorders. Dr. Morgenstern has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles on the treatment of substance use disorders and his treatment research program has been funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health for the last 20 years.