AlcoholScreening.org Screens over 200,000 for Risky Drinking

Press Release
Join Together
1 Appleton Street
Boston, MA 02116

Boston, MA - "Is my drinking risky?" At AlcoholScreening.org, over 200,000 individuals have learned the answer to this question by taking a confidential, informative self-test to assess their drinking patterns. Users receive personalized feedback, finding out whether their alcohol consumption is likely to be within safe limits, or if it may be harmful to their health, now or in the future. The feedback also compares them with others of the same age and gender to show them whether they drink more or less than their peers.

"Recent studies are showing that Internet users focus more and more of their time searching for health information. AlcoholScreening.org helps them with this by offering a simple, easy-to-use tool to assess their personal drinking behavior," says Marc Belanger, project manager of AlcoholScreening.org. "Answering all 13 questions only takes a few minutes and all information is anonymous and confidential."

AlcoholScreening.org is a free service of Join Together, a project of the Boston University School of Public Health. The site launched during National Alcohol Awareness Month (April) 2001, and has since had more than 460,000 visitors. Many websites have linked to it, including About.com, the Montana and Massachusetts state health departments, Delta Airlines, SoberCity.com, the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, WebMD, and many universities across the country. AlcoholScreening.org has also been featured on the television programs CNN Presents and Dateline NBC, and in online reports on WebMD, CNN, MSNBC, and other media websites.

"I think much of the success of AlcoholScreening.org is that it's free to the public, and also offers free promotional tools that consumers are using to publicize it," says Belanger. "Not only do we offer web graphics, but we've gone a bit further and created catchy print ads, envelope stuffers, and door-hangers, which are popular in university settings." Each promotional piece can be customized for local settings. More information and downloads can be found at: www.AlcoholScreening.org/Promote.

Additional websites are using the AlcoholScreening Syndication Tool. This technology seamlessly integrates the content of AlcoholScreening.org into the structure and design of a third-party site. Two of many sites chosen to be syndication partners are Unity Health Systems (www.AlcoholScreening.org/UnityHealth) and the Montana State University Counseling Center (www.AlcoholScreening.org/Montana). The syndication tool allows for the capturing of anonymous usage data and the ability to add customized content into the various resource sections.

AlcoholScreening.org also features answers to frequently asked questions about alcohol and health, links to support resources, and a database of 11,000 local treatment programs throughout the US. For no-nonsense, health-based alcohol use information, visit www.AlcoholScreening.org.

Join Together is a national resource supporting community-based efforts to reduce substance use disorders and gun violence. Major funding is provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. More information about Join Together is available at: www.JoinTogether.org/about. For more information on AlcoholScreening.org, contact Marc Belanger at 617-437-1500 or Marc@JoinTogether.org.