Abstract:
Individuals with risky drinking behaviors whose their motivation are enhanced would have
higher intention to change their behavior of reducing drinking alcoholic beverage, and may finally
be able to stop drinking. The purposes of this quasi-experimental study were to test the effects of
motivational enhancement program on intention to stop drinking and drinking behavior among males
with risky drinking. Participants consisted of 29 males with risky drinking residing in
Bor sub-district, Khlung District of Chanthaburi Province. Random assignment was employed to
select 14 participants to the experimental group and 15 males to the control group. Participants in the
experimental group-received the motivational enhancement program for 8 sessions, 2 sessions per
week for 4-week period. Each session took about 60-90 minutes. For the control group, participants
received usual care from the health promotion hospital. Research instruments included a demographic
questionnaire, the intention to stop drinking questionnaire, and the drinking behavior questionnaire.
Their reliability were .91 and .81, respectively. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics,
independent t-test, and two-way repeated measure ANOVA.
The results revealed that after completion of the motivational enhancement program,
participants in the experimental group had higher intention to stop drinking and less drinking behavior
than those in the control group (p<.001). Moreover, within the experimental group at 1 month
follow-up, the participants had higher intention to stop drinking and less drinking behavior than at
immediately finished the intervention (p<.05).
These findings indicate that the motivational enhancementprogram is effective. Nurses and
relevant health carepersonnel could obtain this program to apply with risky drinking males to increase
intention to stop drinking and decrease drinking behavior. Consequently, they could stop drinking