This study tested the hypothesis that a brief alcohol intervention will result in less alcohol use at follow‐up relative to standard of care among hazardously drinking incarcerated women who are returning to the community.
Eligible participants engaged in hazardous alcohol consumption, defined as four or more drinks at a time on at least 3 separate days in the previous 3 months or a score of 8 or above on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Participants were randomized to either an assessment‐only condition or to two brief motivationally focused sessions, the first delivered during incarceration, the second 1 month later after community re‐entry. Participants recalled drinking behaviors at 3 and 6 months after the baseline interview using a 90‐day timeline follow‐back method. The 245 female participants averaged 34 years old and were 71 percent Caucasian. The mean percentage of alcohol-use days in the 3 months prior to incarceration was 51.7 percent and heavy-alcohol-use days was 43.9 percent. Intervention effects on abstinent days were statistically significant at 3 months (odds ratio = 1.96, 95 percent confidence interval 1.17, 3.30); the percentage of days abstinent was 68 percent for those randomized to intervention and 57 percent for controls. At 6 months, the effect of the intervention was attenuated and no longer statistically significant. Among incarcerated women who reported hazardous drinking, a two‐session brief alcohol intervention increased abstinent days at 3 months, but this effect decayed by 6 months. Study participants continued to drink heavily after return to the community. Based on these results, this study advises that more intensive intervention pre‐release and after reentry may benefit hazardously drinking incarcerated women. (publisher abstract modified)