Evaluation of the QuikFix Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Harm Minimisation Program for residential college students.

There are three groups in this study: Group 1) the comparison group – who receive the workshop only; Group 2) intervention group – who receive the Full QuikFix College Program (i.e., workshop + brief intervention), and Group 3) the control group – who receive the usual Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) messaging from their respective colleges. AOD Harm Minimisation Workshop (Group 1 and 2). An interactive, 1-hour workshop will be delivered during orientation-week (O-Week) to first year students at participating UQ colleges assigned to Groups 1 and 2, to increase their knowledge of and intention to use harm minimisation strategies and reduce their risk of risky AOD use and related harm. A quiz show trivia format will be used, in which the first year cohort at each college will be split into teams (based on existing college structures). The workshop will be facilitated by trained student leaders from each college, with the support of the research team. The trivia content was co-developed and with college staff and leaders using focus groups/participatory design workshops, and refined based on feedback. The workshop includes information about: how alcohol and other drugs is likely to affect individuals physically, mentally, socially and emotionally; how to drink alcohol but not get too drunk; and harm minimisation strategies for safer alcohol and other drug use to reduce risk of harm. Colleges assigned to Groups 1 and 2 will receive access to QuikFix AOD use and harm minimisation factsheets throughout the year. Students in Group 1 and 2 will be sent four interactive emails containing booster material (5 trivia questions) from the workshop on alcohol, cannabis, MDMA, smoking/vaping (the drugs most commonly used drugs at baseline will be targeted) 3-4 weeks apart in Semester 2 to remind them of the workshop content. Colleges assigned to Group 3 will receive the harm minimisation factsheets at the end of the trial. The workshop will be scheduled into the Colleges' O-Week formal orientation program, which all students are encouraged to attend. Attendance numbers will be monitored using the Colleges' enrolment lists. Intervention – Socially-targeted QuikFix Brief AOD Telehealth Intervention (Group 2 only). A survey will be conducted at 6-weeks with all first year students. The results from this survey will be used to identify students in Group 2 who are nominated as socially influential by their peers. This data is collected at 6-weeks post-baseline to allow sufficient time for social bonds to be established among first year students. This approach is based on recommendations made in previous research (Heckathorn et al., 2012; Paluck & Shepherd, 2012). In addition, only those socially influential students who also reported risky drinking in the baseline online survey (completed prior to the workshop) are offered the chance to participate in the targeted QuikFix brief intervention. This is because it is expected that targeting AOD use, among the socially influential students with the QuikFix brief intervention, will indirectly influence AOD use among the remainder of the network (i.e., Group 2 - intervention group). The modified QuikFix intervention is delivered via phone over a maximum of 4 weeks by AOD workers, who have attended a 2-day training workshop, which has previously been delivered by Professor Hides to over 50 mental health, AOD and primary care workers. QuikFix incorporates assessment feedback (AF), motivational interviewing (MI) and personality targeted coping skills training. In Session 1 (expected completion time 20 - 30 minutes), personalised AF on the student’s AOD use and related consequences, and information on the physical, psychological and social effects of AOD use with the QuikFix factsheets. MI is then used to build readiness and commitment to make a change and develop goals for their alcohol use. Participants are provided with information on alcohol harm minimisation strategies and are encouraged to develop a implementation intention for how they can use these strategies in future AOD use situations to reduce their risk of harm. At the end of this session participants are asked if they would also like to be emailed a copy of their AOD use harm minimisation plan; and are offered a second brief call to provide some brief coping skills training for one of the individual risk factors which may underlie their AOD use. If the participant agrees to receive a second call (expected completion time 20 - 30 minutes), AF on the students dominant personality risk style (highest score on the S-UPPS at baseline), and how this may affect their AOD use is provided. They then receive personality-specific training in two cognitive behavioural coping skills. For example, a participant with a 'Positive Urgency' style of coping personality might be provided with 'Urge Surfing' skills; on the other hand, a participant with an 'Impulsivity' style of coping personality might be provided with a 'Stop-Think-Do' skills technique. Step 2 concludes with the young person developing an implementation intention for future AOD-related situations, which incorporates their personality-specific coping skills. As with Session 1, upon completion of Session 2, participants are asked if they would like a copy of any of the purpose-built individually tailored coping skills emailed to them for future reference. All telephone treatment sessions are audio-recorded and a random 20% will be independently rated for treatment fidelity purposes.