What's Brewing?
Finfgeld Connett
The Internet has become a powerful tool for those seeking information and entertainment. Yet Deborah Finfgeld Connett, an associate professor at the MU Sinclair School of Nursing, believes that it can offer much more, and her new study aims to prove just that.
“Inevitably, the World Wide Web will impact how we deliver health care of all kinds,” she says. “I’m looking at one piece of the pie and beginning to figure out how the Web can help people take charge of their health and their lives.”
Finfgeld Connett recently received $220,500 from the National Institutes of Health to study how a Web-based treatment program can help female problem drinkers from rural areas. Her previous research laid the foundation for the study by providing evidence that some problem drinkers can resolve their alcohol problems without the help of 12-step or other formal programs.
Moreover, Finfgeld Connett gathered evidence that indicated some problem drinkers can control their habit without resorting to complete alcohol abstinence.
“I’ve been interested in this topic for 15 years,” she says. “I started to see published research suggesting people were resolving hazardous drinking habits on their own. Obviously, this is not a popular finding among the established treatment community, and it goes against cultural beliefs in terms of the ability of problem drinkers to resolve their problems.”
In her own research, Finfgeld Connett conducted in-depth interviews with individuals who successfully changed their drinking behavior on their own. She became convinced that online support groups and an Internet-based collection of encouraging information could make a difference for many problem drinkers who lack access to other treatment options.
Her new study is a small, pilot version of what she hopes will be a much larger, multi-state research project after initial data is analyzed. Since 4 million American women are thought to have problems controlling their alcohol intake, Finfgeld Connett’s research could be an important step toward finding new methods for controlling problem drinking.
Further, most rural women are not able to access existing treatment programs, creating a sense of isolation. Finfgeld Connett’s online approach is designed to mitigate that sense by allowing women to anonymously share their experiences and ask for help from those in similar circumstances.
“In Missouri alone, it’s estimated 28,400 women are currently in need of outpatient substance abuse treatment,” she notes. “Web-based treatment potentially offers an innovative way to deliver self-guided alcohol treatment to these individuals.”
To test her hypothesis that a Web-based treatment program will prove helpful for rural women, Finfgeld Connett will compare their success with a control group who will receive only printed materials without access to online resources, bulletin boards and chat rooms. The women in the study have been recruited via advertising in their areas and must qualify by living in a rural location, having Internet access, and exhibiting no previous signs of severe alcohol withdrawal, which would need to be monitored medically.
Finfgeld Connett created the online program, offering reference materials, goal-setting exercises, self-assessment tools and the interactive bulletin board component. Participants are able to communicate with each other and privately with Finfgeld Connett through the self-paced program. Once they are accepted, the women are allowed three months of access to the program.
At the end of that time, Finfgeld Connett will assess their progress to determine whether the Web-based program resulted in a better ability to control problem drinking. Participants will be referred to continuing sources of support and treatment at the end of the three-month study period, should they need additional help.
“There are very few existing online resources similar to this,” Finfgeld Connett says. “I anticipate the women in the study will miss the program’s interactive features when the three-month time period is at an end.”
Although a handful of other online programs exist, Finfgeld Connett’s program is unique in that it is designed specifically for rural women, taking their concerns and situations into account.
“Hopefully, the fact that these women face similar challenges due to their geographic and cultural similarities will help them bond and offer support to one another,” she says.
However, she has been surprised by the reticence shown by some participants. The initial reluctance may be due, in part, to some participants’ learning curve regarding the interactive features of the program.
“In some cases, the women are simply new to this and are hesitant to expose themselves,” she adds.
Since the first group of women began participating, Finfgeld Connett has seen a slow increase in bulletin board activity. She also tracks which information modules are viewed and how much time each woman spends on the program. Another group will test the program in about six months.
In the first stage of the program, participants choose to either abstain from alcohol or to moderate their consumption. If they find that their chosen strategy is not working, they can switch to the other option in order to increase their chances of success.
The women who responded to Finfgeld Connett’s advertising blitz about the study generally claim they have been aware of their problem drinking for some time, and some have tried other types of treatment options.
Helping women to recognize a drinking problem is an associated challenge, Finfgeld Connett says. “Culturally, we don’t recognize these problems very early on. The initial signs, like trouble sleeping, are sometimes attributed to other things.”
Perhaps because they are surprised to learn that some of their difficulties with sleep, weight and relationships are due to their drinking, Finfgeld Connett says that many of the women are most interested in resolving specific issues that relate to their drinking behaviors.
For instance, one module offers suggestions and tips for ways to spend one’s time when drinking is no longer a primary activity. This kind of practical advice speaks to the women’s specific challenges and helps them replace drinking with healthier activities and it has been well received by the participants.
“The most rewarding thing I’ve noticed so far is that the women are using the program as expected and accessing the modules,” Finfgeld Connett says. “It’s good to know all my previous research gave an accurate indication of what they needed in order to find the program useful. We’re giving them an online boost so that they can get going and stay going in the right direction.”
Finfgeld Connett is now reminded daily of how necessary Internet access has become in order to live a full life and explore all options for healthy living. “These days, if you don’t have Internet access, you’re really missing out,” she says.