Using causal mediation to examine self-efficacy as a mechanism through which continuing care interventions reduce alcohol use.

Understanding the causal mechanisms through which telephone and mobile health continuing care approaches reduce alcohol use can help develop more efficient interventions that effectively target these mechanisms. Self-efficacy for successfully coping with high-risk alcohol relapse situations is a theoretically and empirically supported mediator of alcohol treatment. This secondary analysis aims to examine self-efficacy as a mechanism through which remote-delivered continuing care interventions reduce alcohol use.