Another study of adult problem drinkers in the Netherlands (Blankers, Koeter, & Schippers, 2011) randomized 205 problem drinkers to one of three interventions: wait list, Self-Help Online (SAO), a fully automated, internet based, self-guided treatment program based cognitive behavioral treatment and MI principles, and Therapy Alcohol Online (TAO), which combined Self Help Alcohol Online with up to seven synchronous text-based chat-therapy sessions with a trained therapist. Three-month follow-ups indicated significant differences in alcohol consumption and problems favoring both SAO and TAO relative to wait list control (27.0 versus 22.4 versus 35.5 mean drinks per week, respectively), but at 6 months, TAO had better outcomes than SAO (17.8 versus 26.2 drinks per week, p=.03), suggesting benefit of clinician involvement in terms of producing durable improvement in drinking.
