# Preventing Alcohol Misuse among Young Adult Veterans through Brief Online Intervention

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · 2021 · $382,872

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Young adult veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan represent a population at risk for heavy drinking
and resulting long-term problems from use. Unfortunately, few seek treatment for alcohol concerns. The
objective of this planned research is to more fully test the efficacy of a very brief, inexpensive, single-session,
and web-delivered personalized normative feedback (PNF) intervention developed by our team and evaluated
in a successful pilot R34 study to prevent alcohol misuse and associated negative consequences, as well as
increase behavioral health treatment seeking behaviors among a difficult to reach and treatment resistant
veteran population. We expand on our successful pilot work by (1) building a large publicly available database
of young veteran drinking and treatment seeking norms, (2) focusing on reaching veterans who have recently
separated from the military and drink heavily but who have not recently sought any behavioral health
treatment, (3) evaluating how an enhanced intervention offering PNF content specifically related to treatment
seeking affects preparatory behaviors and actual treatment initiation, and (4) testing hypothesized mediators
and moderators of intervention drinking and treatment initiation outcomes relevant for this population. In Aim 1,
we add to our large database of drinking norms for the population by collecting drinking and treatment seeking
information from veterans underrepresented in the pilot, such as female veterans (total sample N = 2,500). In
Aim 2, we then use these norms in a randomized controlled trial of the PNF intervention designed to reach
heavy drinking young veterans who are not currently receiving behavioral health care (N = 800) and test if
additional feedback about treatment seeking can help promote treatment initiation among this treatment
resistant group. Outcomes at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months are compared for participants receiving an enhanced PNF
condition (N = 400) to an attention-only control condition (N = 400). In Aim 3, we test mediators of intervention
efficacy on drinking outcomes (i.e., changes in perceived norms, increases in treatment initiation) and explore
moderators of outcomes to determine if the brief intervention works better for veteran participants based on
age, gender, reasons for drinking (social versus coping), perceived stigma, PTSD and depression symptoms,
and solitary drinking. The proposed research offers significant methodological advancements to current PNF
approaches by targeting a comorbid population with unmet behavioral health needs. The public health impact
of the approach is promising as the intervention is hosted entirely on the Internet and can reach veterans
outside of treatment settings. The self-sustaining program uses limited time and personnel and is available on
mobile phones and tablets. The intervention can reach a large population resistant to conventional therapies
and functions as a stand-alone approach to preven...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10140126
- **Project number:** 5R01AA026575-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Eric R. Pedersen
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $382,872
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10140126

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10140126, Preventing Alcohol Misuse among Young Adult Veterans through Brief Online Intervention (5R01AA026575-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10140126. Licensed CC0.

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