Abstract

Alcohol is the third highest risk factor for disease prevalence in the world and threatens the quality of life of people and societies Consumption of alcohol is a challenge in a few of the native communities of Sabah and Sarawak with the highest prevalence of risky drinking in Malaysia This study aimed to compare drinking refusal self-efficacy DRSE and quality of life QOL between the experimental group and the control group before and after the Motivational Enhancement Intervention MEI and to compare DRSE and QOL of the experimental group before and after the MEI A quasiexperimental design was used to assess the effectiveness of MEI at baseline and three months follow-up by using pretest and posttest design A total of 56 villagers in the West Coast Division of Sabah participated in this study Purposive sampling by using Alcohol Use Identification Test AUDIT was applied to select hazardous and harmful drinkers between age 18 to 56 years old Data was analyzed by using IBM SPSS version 26 0 The result found a significant difference in DRSE and QOL in the intervention group before and after MEI A significant difference in these measures was also found between the intervention and control groups after MEI The study results are significant to provide direction for the next action plan for intervention purposes aimed to increase the ability to resist drinking alcohol in various situations and to improve the QOL among the indigenous communities of Sabah