Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Nearly half of individuals who struggle with alcohol use also experience emotional problems (i.e., depression and anxiety), especially in Manitoba. The combination of these challenges can have devastating consequences such as more severe symptoms of each disorder, disease, and early death. These combined difficulties also place a financial burden on the healthcare system. The highest rates of these problems are seen among young adults, especially those living in Northern and remote communities. This is concerning as there are often barriers to accessing health services in these areas (e.g., stigma, lack of resources, distance). Considering the high co-occurrence between alcohol use and emotional problems, there is a critical need to develop accessible, cost-effective, self-guided treatments in order to reach the thousands of struggling Manitobans. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to examine the benefits of an online, integrated (i.e., treatment for alcohol use and emotional problems together), self-guided program. Currently, for young adults, no intervention like this exists in Canada that targets the full spectrum of negative emotions (i.e., depression and anxiety). A total of 214 young adults experiencing issues with alcohol use and depression and/or anxiety will be recruited through the treatment website. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either an 8-week online intervention (i.e., integrated cognitive behavioural therapy and motivational interviewing) or to the control group (i.e., education about mental health). This research stands to provide a user-friendly, cost-effective, and feasible option in order to improve the mental health of young adults struggling in the community.