Examining the role of a brief online alcohol use risk feedback on accessing information about available treatment resources for alcohol issues

Research suggests college-aged young adults are hesitant to seek treatment for alcohol use disorder and highlights barriers contributing to a gap in treatment utilization. One barrier to treatment utilization is the lack of information about available treatment resources. Motivated by the literature on web-based screening and brief interventions (eSBIs), the current study examined whether providing a brief online feedback of one's alcohol use risk severity will make college students more likely to access information about available treatment options for alcohol-related issues. College students (<i>N</i> = 724) who responded to the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (Babor, Higgins-Biddle, Saunders, & Monteiro, 2001) were randomly assigned to receive a brief online feedback on their alcohol use risk or to a no-feedback condition. Overall, only 20% of all participants opted to view available treatment services for alcohol issues. Participants in the feedback group (15%) were signi