Long-term effect of participation in one-month alcohol abstinence campaign on individual consumption

Abstract

Objective

There is limited amount of evidence concerning the effect of population-based interventions. Dry November campaign asks people to go booze-free for a month. The goal of our study was to assess whether success rate of participation in the 2017 Dry November campaign leads to long-term change in alcohol consumption of participants.

Methods

A longitudinal study was conducted in 2017-2018 in the form of an online survey. Alcohol consumption characteristics of respondents (N = 125) were measured by the short-form AUDIT test. Participants filled out the first survey at the end of October 2017 with a one-year follow-up questionnaire. We used the reliable change index to identify participants whose c-AUDIT scores changed significantly over time. We collated participants who exhibited no change or significant decrease in c-AUDIT scores into one group, which was used as reference in our logistic regression analyses. We first conducted a series of univariate regression analyses to identify significant confounders, which were then included in the subsequent multivariate regression analysis.

Results

Based on our results, success rates did not differ significantly between those who exhibited a significant increase in c-AUDIT scores and those whose c-AUDIT scores did not change or decreased significantly over a one-year time period. In our multivariate regression analysis, the occurrence of alcohol consumption in the same household (OR = 3.29, 95% CI: 1.17-10.01) was the only variable significantly associated to an increase in c-AUDIT scores.

Conclusions

Even though success rate of participation in the 2017 Dry November campaign did not influence c-AUDIT scores significantly at follow-up, we were able to identify the occurrence of alcohol consumption in household as a significant risk factor for those who exhibited a significant increase in c-AUDIT score.

Key messages

• A one-month alcohol-free challenge might be an effective tool for reducing alcohol consumption but further analysis is needed.

• The inclusion of individuals in the same household in interventions aiming to decrease alcohol intake may lead to higher success rate.