Cultural adaptation of a brief motivational intervention for heavy drinking among Hispanics in a medical setting

Background: Hispanics, particularly men of Mexican origin, are more likely to engage in heavy drinking and experience alcohol-related problems, but less likely to obtain treatment for alcohol problems than non-Hispanic men. Our previous research indicates that heavy-drinking Hispanics who received a brief motivational intervention (BMI) were significantly more likely than Hispanics receiving standard care to reduce subsequent alcohol use. Among Hispanics who drink heavily the BMI effectively reduced alcohol use but did not impact alcohol-related problems or treatment utilization. We hypothesized that an adapted BMI that integrates cultural values and addresses acculturative stress among Hispanics would be more effective. Methods/Design: We describe here the protocol for the design and implementation of a randomized (approximately 300 patients per condition) controlled trial evaluating the comparative effectiveness of a culturally adapted (CA) BMI in contrast to a non-adapted BMI (NA-BMI) in a community hospital setting among men of Mexican origin. Study participants will include men who were hospitalized due to an alcohol related injury or screened positive for heavy drinking. By accounting for risk and protective factors of heavy drinking among Hispanics, we hypothesize that CA-BMI will significantly decrease alcohol use and alcohol problems, and increase help-seeking and treatment utilization. Discussion: This is likely the first study to directly address alcohol related health disparities among non-treatment seeking men of Mexican origin by comparing the benefits of a CA-BMI to a NA-BMI. This study stands to not only inform interventions used in medical settings to reduce alcohol-related health disparities, but may also help reduce the public health burden of heavy alcohol use in the United States. Trial registration: Trial registration clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT02429401; Registration date: April 28, 2015.