Internet Screening and Interventions for Problem Drinking

The alcohol screening and brief intervention literature suggest that many individuals become concerned about their drinking, seek help and are often aided with brief and simple interventions. The Internet provides an increasingly accessible, confidential, and low cost medium to deliver these services. A pilot Web site was developed to provide anonymous, confidential and fully automated screening and brief interventions. The test consisted of the AUDIT (screening), SOCRATES (readiness for treatment measures), and demographic and alcohol history questions. During the initial 172 day trial, over 10,000 individuals visited the Web site, of these, 2,813 took the screening and limited assessment test. Results generally suggest (1) that there is a sizable population seeking help on the Internet for drinking problems; (2) that AUDIT scores are surprisingly high; and (3) that most (94%) have not been professionally diagnosed.