CHOICES: An Empirically Supported Intervention for Preventing Alcohol-Exposed Pregnancy in Community Settings

Abstract

Examples of behavioral interventions that are efficacious in the research setting as well as practical and translatable to the “real-world” are critically needed as models for social work researchers and clinicians. This article presents the Changing High-Risk Alcohol Use and Improving Contraception Effectiveness Study (CHOICES) intervention as a case example of an empirically supported intervention that was systematically developed, implemented, and tested by researchers and practitioners, and then successfully disseminated in a variety of real-world settings. The Project CHOICES research team took deliberate steps to ensure that implementation of the CHOICES intervention would be feasible and flexible and that practitioners would be equipped with the tools needed to maintain treatment fidelity. This team effort enabled the successful, nationwide dissemination of the CHOICES intervention.