Prevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 1995 University Avenue, Berkeley CA 94704, USA.
Am J Prev Med. 2011 Sep;41(3):300-8. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2011.03.021.
Internet-based alcohol misuse prevention programs are now used by many universities. One popular 2- to 3-hour online course known as AlcoholEdu for College is typically required for all incoming freshmen and thus constitutes a campus-level strategy to reduce student alcohol misuse.
Multi-campus study to evaluate the effectiveness of an Internet-based alcohol misuse prevention course.
RCT with 30 universities: 21 entered the study in Fall 2007, nine in Fall 2008. Fifteen were randomly assigned to receive the online course and the other 15 were assigned to the control condition. The course was implemented by intervention schools during the late summer and/or fall semester. Cross-sectional surveys of freshmen were conducted at each university, beginning prior to the intervention in Spring 2008-2009; post-intervention surveys were administered in Fall 2008-2009 and Spring 2009-2010.
SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Public and private universities of varying sizes across the U.S. Random samples of 200 freshmen per campus were invited to participate in online surveys for the evaluation. Overall survey response rates ranged from 44% to 48% (M ≈ 90 participants per campus).
The online course includes five modules; the first four (Part I) are typically offered in the late summer before matriculation, and the fifth (Part II) in early fall. Course content includes defining a standard drink, physiologic effects of alcohol, the need to monitor blood alcohol level, social influences on alcohol use, alcohol laws, personalized normative feedback, and alcohol harm-reduction strategies. Students must pass an exam after Part I to advance to Part II.
Past-30-day alcohol use, average number of drinks per occasion, and binge drinking.
Multilevel intent-to-treat analyses indicated significant reductions in the frequency of past-30-day alcohol use (beta = -0.64, p<0.05) and binge drinking (beta = -0.26, p<0.05) during the fall semester immediately after completion of the course. However, these effects did not persist when assessed in the spring semester. Post hoc comparisons suggested stronger course effects on these outcomes at colleges with higher rates of student course completion. No course effects were observed for average number of drinks per occasion or prevalence of binge drinking, regardless of the campus course completion rate.
This study provides initial evidence that the Internet-based alcohol misuse prevention course has beneficial short-term effects on hazardous drinking behavior among first-year college students, which should be reinforced through effective environmental prevention strategies.
基于互联网的酗酒预防计划现在被许多大学使用。一个广受欢迎的在线课程是“AlcoholEdu for College”，通常要求所有新生参加，因此它构成了减少学生酗酒的校园级策略。
多校区研究评估基于互联网的酗酒预防课程的有效性。
30 所大学的 RCT：21 所于 2007 年秋季进入研究，9 所于 2008 年秋季进入研究。其中 15 所被随机分配接受在线课程，15 所被分配到对照组。该课程由干预学校在夏末和/或秋季学期实施。在 2008-2009 年春季干预之前，在每所大学对新生进行横断面调查；在 2008-2009 年秋季和 2009-2010 年春季进行干预后调查。
地点/参与者：来自美国各地不同规模的公立和私立大学。邀请每个校区的 200 名新生随机参加在线调查进行评估。总体调查响应率从 44%到 48%不等（M≈90 名参与者/校区）。
在线课程包括五个模块；前四个（第一部分）通常在入学前的夏末提供，第五个（第二部分）在初秋提供。课程内容包括定义标准饮品、酒精的生理影响、监测血液酒精水平的必要性、对饮酒的社会影响、酒精法规、个性化规范反馈和减少酒精伤害的策略。学生必须通过第一部分的考试才能进入第二部分。
过去 30 天的饮酒量、每次饮酒的平均量和狂饮。
多层次意向治疗分析表明，在完成课程后的秋季学期，过去 30 天的饮酒频率（β=-0.64，p<0.05）和狂饮（β=-0.26，p<0.05）显著减少。然而，当在春季学期评估时，这些效果并没有持续。事后比较表明，在学生课程完成率较高的学院，课程对这些结果的影响更强。无论校园课程完成率如何，课程对每次饮酒的平均量或狂饮的发生率都没有影响。
本研究初步证明，基于互联网的酗酒预防课程对一年级大学生的危险饮酒行为具有短期有益影响，应通过有效的环境预防策略加以加强。
