# Social Network Based Bystander Intervention for Hazardous Drinking

> **NIH NIH R01** · BROWN UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $479,893

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The shift from high school to college coincides with a dramatic increase in substance use and new peer social
influences. Despite the robust literature supporting the importance of peer dynamics for alcohol use, alcohol
interventions have not incorporated elements that utilize peer influence for reducing hazardous alcohol use. An
approach that takes the campus social ecology into consideration and that specifically leverages peer
influences within college social networks may be more impactful and sustainable than currently established
college alcohol intervention approaches. This treatment development research will follow the stage model of
behavioral therapies research to create an innovative intervention in which college students in first-year
dormitories are identified and engaged to assist in reducing the alcohol-related risk behaviors of their peers.
Initial intervention development will entail conducting focus groups (4-5 groups, N = 32) to produce the
intervention components using elements from Bystander Intervention and Brief Motivational Intervention
approaches. An open trial phase will use social network analysis methods to collect information about
friendship ties within one first-year college dormitory network and will randomly select participants to receive
the new intervention (final N = 15 intervention recipients). The general goals for the intervention recipients are
to increase concern and awareness about hazardous alcohol behavior in the community, assume responsibility
for community safety, and develop the skills and self-efficacy to intervene with peers. Following the open trial,
we will refine the intervention and counselor training procedures, then will conduct a small randomized
controlled trial using two size-matched first-year dormitories (N = 30 intervention recipients; N = 260 networked
peers) comparing the new intervention (Bystander Brief Motivational Intervention) in one dormitory to a natural
history control in the other. The goal of the RCT is to demonstrate feasibility, acceptability, adequacy of
counselor performance, and preliminary efficacy of the intervention. Intervention outcomes will be measured on
the intervention recipients and their networked peers. We expect participants who live in the dormitory
assigned to the new intervention will show evidence of greater reduction in number of heavy drinking days and
negative consequences at 1 and 3 months relative to the control. We also expect that theoretically supported
cognitive and behavioral processes targeted in the new intervention will be associated with reductions in the
target behaviors. Our final goal will be to establish whether intervention recipients with high centrality
(determined through network ties) are more effective alcohol harm reduction bystanders. This research has the
potential to produce an efficacious brief intervention that can reduce hazardous drinking in the larger
community via network diffusion. Findings have the potential ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9917675
- **Project number:** 5R01AA025456-02
- **Recipient organization:** BROWN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** NANCY P BARNETT
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $479,893
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-20 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9917675

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9917675, Social Network Based Bystander Intervention for Hazardous Drinking (5R01AA025456-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9917675. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*