Brief Intervention Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior to Reduce Alcohol Consumption in University Students

The hazardous and harmful consumption of alcohol in university students is a public health problem, as shown by various international studies. The consequences of consumption, the harmful effects of alcohol, impact various areas of the lives of young adults and those close to them, among which can be mentioned the increased risk of physical harm, legal problems, breach of school, relational responsibilities, negative social interactions, and processing can also be affected cognitive.

The WHO's report of Independent High-Level Commission on Noncommunicable Diseases states that national governments and cities should participate in measures related to noncommunicable diseases, including discouraging the harmful use of alcohol and promote mental health. The global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol includes support for screening and preventive interventions related to hazardous alcohol use in primary health care and other settings. In Mexico, the General Health Law in its article 185, establishes the program for the prevention, reduction, and treatment of the harmful use of alcohol, attention to alcoholism, the prevention of diseases derived from it. Among its actions is the promotion of prevention, early detection, guidance, care, referral and treatment services for people and groups with harmful use of alcohol, avoiding all forms of stigmatization. The Official Mexican Standard 028 for the prevention, treatment, and control of addictions, refers to prevention as those actions aimed at reducing the non-therapeutic consumption of psychoactive substances and indicates that preventive programs must have a theoretical and methodological framework; include vulnerable populations, considering mainly the youth population.

From the international and national scene, the need to preventively attend to the harmful consumption of alcohol is evident, emphasizing the youth population. As measures in such circumstances, online interventions have been effective in reducing risky alcohol consumption, the Anglo-Saxon scientific literature supports the use of the Internet to carry out interventions aimed at reducing alcohol consumption in university students. In Latin America, a first systematic review on brief interventions reported that the interventions studied were given in a traditional face-to-face format, most of them in Brazil and Mexico, with heterogeneous theoretical and methodological approaches used, however, using the internet as a means to carry out brief interventions can be beneficial for university students who are in regions where there is little information on alcohol consumption or for students who have difficulties participating in face-to-face strategies, the brief interventions can serve as health literacy tools mental health that encourage young people to seek early help.

There is increasing evidence that public health interventions based on theories of social and behavioral sciences are more effective than those that do not have such a theoretical basis, the theory is a fundamental element of behavioral interventions, theories explain the pathways that lead or predict behavior and thus provide guidance on how to influence or modify said behavior.

The Theory of Planned Action is a strong theoretical basis for developing interventions to make changes in health-related behaviors. According to TAP, behavior is preceded by intentions, which in turn are shaped by attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. Attitudes are made up of behavioral beliefs (beliefs about the results of behavior and the evaluation of these results), the subjective norm is made up of normative beliefs, that is, beliefs about the normative expectations of others and the motivation to comply with them. these expectations, perceived behavioral control is integrated from control beliefs (beliefs about the presence of factors that can facilitate or hinder behavior), the perceived behavioral control construct is compatible with Bandura's perceived self-efficacy , which refers to the perception of confidence in being able to carry out a behavior, beliefs of self-efficacy or perceived behavioral control are located by TAP in a framework of relationships between attitudes, beliefs, intentions and behavior.