Alcohol abuse treatment facilities have been known to have great success with helping those with alcoholism recover from their disease. There is one giant caveat of this success though, and that's getting them to admit that they have a problem and to enter treatment. How are you supposed to help someone change their detrimental and dangerous ways when they're not actively looking for help?
A new study designed at the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh is looking into how text messaging can be used as an alcohol abuse treatment tool to interact with young adults with the aim of reducing their alcohol consumption with special regard to decreasing binge drinking.
According to Dr. Brian Suffoletto, one of the authors of the study, "Each day in the U.S., more than 50,000 adults 18 to 24 years of age visit hospital Emergency Departments, and more than one-third report current alcohol abuse or dependence. Thus, Emergency Departments provide a unique opportunity to both identify young adults with harmful or hazardous drinking behavior and intervene to reduce future injury and illness."
The text messaging interaction can begin once a young adult admitted into the Emergency Department at a hospital displays signs of alcohol-related problems. Dr. Suffoletto and his staff see this as a unique opportunity for intermediary alcohol abuse treatment as their research indicates that text messaging is not only an effective way to collect data on a young adult's drinking habits but also can provide feedback and continued support to them.
The basis of this research is centered around the fact that most young adults have cell phones and text messaging has evolved into a primary communication tool, so the team at the University of Pittsburgh "sought to build and test an automated text messaging system that could conduct a health dialogue with young adults after discharge," according to Dr. Suffoletto.
This is the first study of its kind to attempt to use text messaging as a behavioral modification tool of alcohol abuse treatment and could be quite revolutionary if proven effective. The researchers feel that an individual being admitted into an Emergency Department of a hospital is a severe enough incident that it can be used as a teachable moment to communicate the dangers of continued alcohol abuse with regard to sustaining or causing alcohol-related injuries or illnesses.
If nothing else, this study has already proven that text messaging is an effective way for doctors to reach and communicate with young adults after they've been discharged from a hospital, which is important in and of itself. Now they can only hope with continued studies that they can fine-tune their sentiment of alcohol abuse treatment in these messages to really effect change in these young adults.
Ben Brafman, LMHC, CAP is the President and CEO of Destination Hope, a licensed dual diagnosis substance abuse treatment center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Ben has more than 20 years of experience in the addiction and mental health fields, which led him to develop a combination of innovative treatment protocols at Destination Hope. He has been published on various topics including dual diagnosis and chemical dependency, and gives back to the community by educating other addiction counselors at his Academy for Addiction Professionals.
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