Interactive Alcohol Decision-Making Programs

This project aims to develop a maximally effective, computer-delivered brief intervention (CDBI) for reducing heavy alcohol use. More specifically, the investigators will examine outcomes of different versions of a CDBI in which the presence/absence of empathic statements, the gender of the narrator, the presence/absence of a narrator backstory, and the use/non-use of motivational interviewing techniques are systematically manipulated using a factorial design. Participants (352 heavy drinkers) will be randomly assigned to 1 of 16 intervention conditions, representing all combinations of the 4 variables being manipulated. The investigators hypothesize that there will be significant main effects of all four factors being manipulated on (a) subjective reactions to the CDBI and (b) alcohol outcomes at 1-month follow-up