A training program based on cognitive-skills intervention and motivational techniques proved more effective than a 12-step approach in improving outcomes among high-risk college drinkers, according to Swedish researchers.

The two-year study by Lund University researchers found that, overall, students who took part in a brief skills-training program (based on the University of Washington's Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students) or the 12-step oriented program significantly reduced their Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores. But students with the highest AUDIT scores at the outset of the study -- scores of 8 or more for men, and 4 or more for women -- tended to do better with the skills-based program.

"The at-risk students -- those with a higher AUDIT score and in greater danger of having negative consequences from alcohol consumption -- in the brief skills-training program reduced their consumption more than the [12-step group or a control group]," said lead researcher Henrietta Stahlbrandt. "By concentrating alcohol-intervention efforts on this group, a lot of benefits can be attained on both individual and public levels, meaning less of an economic burden and wasted personal time."

The research was published in the March 2007 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.