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- Title
- IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF A CLASSROOM-BASED APPROACH TO EXPECTANCY CHALLENGE FOR REDUCING ALCOHOL USE AMONG FIRST-YEAR COLLEGE STUDENTS.
- Creator
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Sivasithamparam, Janani, Dunn, Michael, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
There is a pervasive belief in the United States that the college experience typically includes frequent social activities characterized by widespread alcohol use. Unfortunately, awareness of the hundreds of deaths and wide variety of other harms experienced by college students as a result of alcohol use is much less pervasive. In an effort to increase awareness of the negative impact of alcohol use on college campuses, the NIAAA commissioned a panel composed of scientists and college...
Show moreThere is a pervasive belief in the United States that the college experience typically includes frequent social activities characterized by widespread alcohol use. Unfortunately, awareness of the hundreds of deaths and wide variety of other harms experienced by college students as a result of alcohol use is much less pervasive. In an effort to increase awareness of the negative impact of alcohol use on college campuses, the NIAAA commissioned a panel composed of scientists and college presidents to document alcohol-related harms and identify strategies that have been found to be effective in reducing risky alcohol use based on empirical evidence. The final report of this expert panel was released as a "Call to Action" for institutions nationwide in an effort to increase understanding of the severity and prevalence of risky alcohol use, and to provide descriptions of programs that were considered effective based on empirical evidence. Unfortunately, there were very few strategies found to be effective, and one of the effective approaches could only be implemented in specialized laboratories operated by scientists with expertise in expectancy challenge. Due to the severity and pervasiveness of the college alcohol problem and the limited number of strategies deemed effective, there is clearly a pressing need to develop and validate an expectancy challenge method that could be implemented by any institution without being limited by the need for a specialized laboratory and highly trained personnel. Achievement of these goals was the focus of the present project. To this end, an expectancy challenge curriculum designed for delivery in a college classroom was developed based on a laboratory delivered protocol previously found to be effective in reducing alcohol use among college students, and a classroom delivered curriculum previously found to be effective with high school students. The newly developed college classroom curriculum was implemented in a single session with groups of students during their regular class time in their usual classroom. Measures of alcohol use and associated harms were completed anonymously by each participant before completing the curriculum and for the month following completion of the curriculum. Analyses indicated significant reductions in alcohol consumption among males and females in comparison to students who were randomly assigned to a wait-list control condition. Unfortunately, significant reductions in alcohol-related harms were not found. The time periods for baseline and follow-up were only one month each, and that limitation in the number of opportunities to experience harms limits the likelihood of demonstrating a significant reduction in harms as well. Overall, this project represents an important advance in the development of alcohol use reduction strategies that are theory-based and effective in reducing alcohol use based on empirical evidence. In addition, the curriculum that was developed and validated in this project represents the first expectancy challenge method that can be readily implemented at any institution willing to devote one hour to reducing their students' risk for a long list of negative consequences associated with alcohol use on college campuses. Motivation and a typical classroom are all that is needed.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- Identifier
- CFE0002307, ucf:47854
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002307
- Title
- EVALUATION OF THE EXPECTANCY CHALLENGE ALCOHOL LITERACY CURRICULUM (ECALC) FOR REDUCING ALCOHOL USE AMONG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS.
- Creator
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Sivasithamparam, Janani, Dunn, Michael, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Alcohol use is the single most alarming behavior among youth in the United States. Adolescents especially are at risk for increases in heavy episodic drinking and drunkenness leading to alcohol-related problems such as academic failure, interpersonal violence, risky sexual behavior and death. In an effort to address this endemic issue, a number of alcohol use prevention programs have been developed and are currently implemented in the high school setting. Many of these programs, however, lack...
Show moreAlcohol use is the single most alarming behavior among youth in the United States. Adolescents especially are at risk for increases in heavy episodic drinking and drunkenness leading to alcohol-related problems such as academic failure, interpersonal violence, risky sexual behavior and death. In an effort to address this endemic issue, a number of alcohol use prevention programs have been developed and are currently implemented in the high school setting. Many of these programs, however, lack an empirical basis and have been unable to demonstrate significant reductions in alcohol use over time. The need for the development and dissemination of effective strategies to address adolescent drinking is evident. Recommendations for newly developing approaches encourage an emphasis on empirically-based content and easily implemented protocols. Expectancy challenge-based interventions have been identified by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism as having strong evidence supporting their effectiveness in reducing alcohol use among college students. Recent efforts to translate such programs into forms effective with high school adolescents have been met with mixed results. The focus of the present study was to modify, implement and evaluate the Expectancy Challenge Alcohol Literacy Curriculum (ECALC), a program currently validated for use with college populations, for high school adolescents. The single session, high school version of the ECALC was infused into the existing Health Education high school curriculum and implemented with those in the 9th through 12th grades. Measures of alcohol expectancies and alcohol use were completed anonymously by each participant before delivery of the program and for 30 days thereafter. Impact of the ECALC was compared to classes randomly assigned to an attention-matched control condition. Findings revealed significant changes in alcohol expectancies and alcohol use reported by participants in the 11th and 12th grades following delivery of the ECALC. Changes were found across factor analytic and multidimensional scaling (MDS) statistical methods applied to the expectancy measure, as well as across measures of estimated intoxication and drinking quantity/frequency. Findings were consistent among both male and female participants. Reductions in alcohol use were not found among 9th and 10th grade participants, and expectancy changes were inconsistent. The assessment periods for baseline and follow-up were thirty days, which may reflect a limitation in that a longer follow-up may be more likely to capture significant behavioral changes over time. This study was the first to apply both factor analytic and MDS methods to analysis of the Comprehensive Effects of Alcohol questionnaire, with clear implications for expectancy measurement techniques likely to be most appropriate for capturing changes in expectancy activation patterns over time. Overall, this study represents an important advance in the development of an empirically-based and validated alcohol use prevention program effective for use with adolescents. In addition, the ECALC serves as a prevention program that is easily implemented in the high school setting, requiring only 50 minutes of class time, a classroom, and a motivated educator.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFE0003617, ucf:48846
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003617
