Wide-Ranging Responses to Temporary Abstinence Challenges Among UK-Based Heavier Drinkers: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Temporary abstinence challenges (TACs) encouraging people to abstain from alcohol for typically 1 month time periods have acquired considerable popularity. TACs may promote longer-term reductions in alcohol consumption, but it is unclear how TACs influence behavior changes and whether positive changes are held among adults identifiable as relatively heavy drinkers. Drawing on a UK-based sample of six heavier drinkers, we measured self-reported alcohol consumption and drink-refusal self-efficacy and conducted interviews at three timepoints: pre-TAC participation (T1), and immediately following (T2) and 6 months post-TAC (T3) participation. Using longitudinal interpretative phenomenological analysis, an analytic technique for understanding change over time, and via integration with quantitative self-report measures, we identified three patterns of evidence about longer-term change (or not) in alcohol use linked to TAC participation: “mainly clear change,” “unclear/complicated change,” and “no change or limited change,” each with narrative illustrations from two participants. We found evidence of greater reflection about alcohol consumption at T2 and lower levels of T3 alcohol intake among four of six participants. For some, TAC participation revealed downsides of drinking, and linked participation to reductions in their alcohol consumption. However, other interviews suggested ambivalence about and “backfire effects” associated with TAC participation, in that positives of alcohol consumption were highlighted, with apparently linked negligible changes in consumption practices. Research implications suggest that inoculation against renewed alcohol appreciation may strengthen TAC campaign successes. Future research must test the tenability of our identified trajectories and explore, experimentally, drinking trajectories among registered versus unregistered TAC participants.