One Million People Learn ’How Much is Too Much?’

AlcoholScreening.org reaches milestone during National Alcohol Awareness Month

BOSTON, MA – “Is my drinking risky?” At AlcoholScreening.org, over one million people have now learned the answer to this question by taking a confidential, free online screening to assess their drinking patterns. Visitors to the free health-screening website receive personalized feedback, finding out if their alcohol consumption is likely to be within safe limits — or if it may be harmful to their health now, or in the future. They also find out whether they drink more or less than other people of their age and gender.

AlcoholScreening.org was developed by Join Together, a project of the Boston University School of Public Health. Based on the AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test), a standard in screening instruments, this simple, anonymous test takes only a few minutes and provides confidential results. AlcoholScreening.org was launched in April 2001, and the website delivered its millionth health screening on April 7, 2009. The milestone coincides with National Alcohol Awareness Month.

“Thanks for the statistics, I just thought it was ’normal’. I will try to cut down, I knew I was at risk because of my family tradition, yet I thought I was still on the safe side. I have clear data to re-evaluate my habits,” wrote one user.

AlcoholScreening.org also features answers to frequently asked questions about alcohol and health consequences, and provides links to support resources and a national database of 11,000 local treatment programs. Hundreds of sites link to AlcoholScreening.org and more than fifty organizations use its syndication option to integrate AlcoholScreening.org into their own websites. Syndication also allows these sites to add local resource information.

“Consumers across the country use the Internet to get health information. It makes sense that they should use it to learn whether they may have personal health risks related to their alcohol use,” said David Rosenbloom, Join Together Director. “Research shows that questions about alcohol consumption patterns, coupled with brief feedback about risk levels or referral to assessment or treatment, when appropriate, can lead individuals to reduce risky drinking over sustained periods. Reducing risky drinking patterns can prevent injuries from car crashes and other mishaps, long term illnesses, and problems with family, community members or with law enforcement.”

Take the Test: Visit AlcoholScreening.org

Join Together works to advance effective alcohol and drug policy, prevention and treatment. Major funding is provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. More information about Join Together is available at: http://www.jointogether.org/aboutus/.

Sponsored by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc., (NCADD) since 1987, Alcohol Awareness Month encourages local communities to focus on alcoholism and alcohol-related issues throughout the month of April. Alcohol Awareness Month began as a way of reaching the American public with information about the disease of alcoholism — that it is a treatable disease, not a moral weakness, and that alcoholics can and do recover.

For more information, contact Susan Aromaa at 617-638-0107.