The Netherlands Drug Situation 2010 - Trimbos-instituut

entiate for group characteristics like ethnicity and socio-economic status.E-health interventionsThe Dutch website "drinking less" (www.minderdrinken.nl) offers self help for alcoholproblems. It is the website that has been prone most to scientific research. It is based onmotivational interviewing, cognitive-behavioural principles, and self-control training. Thewebsite targets heavy drinkers among the general adult population, and offers an interactiveprogram albeit without input of a personal therapist. A previous randomized controlledtrial reported reduced drinking among 17% of the experimental group, comparedto only 5% of the control group. This group had no access to the intervention and onlyreceived an on-line alcohol education brochure. At baseline, both groups had an averageof about 55 UK units per week. At six-month follow-up the experimental Drinking Lessgroup drank about 36 UK units, while the control group barely changed its drinking quantities.A 'real world' test showed similar advantageous results. However, because manysite visitors do not complete research surveys, one cannot be sure that these results willbe replicated across all site users (Riper et al. 2009).51