The Effects of Peer-Facilitated Alcohol Interventions

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term objective of this project is to reduce high-risk drinking and negative alcohol-related consequences among "high-risk" college students. Specifically, we are seeking funding to respond to a recent alarming rise in the number and severity of judicial referrals for high-risk drinking by undergraduate students at our university. To address this critical issue, we propose to assess the effectiveness of two peer-led social norms-based alcohol prevention interventions to address the issues and challenges of its high-risk drinkers, defined for this project as students who have been referred to the University's judicial system for alcohol policy violations. Through this project we hope to (a) reduce high-risk drinking rates and associated high-risk behaviors and increase protective behaviors in our high-risk drinkers, (b) compare the effectiveness of two peer-based model interventions for high-risk drinkers with an education-only control condition, (c) identify variables that mediate or moderate program effectiveness, and (d) institutionalize effective program components and disseminate information concerning the effective components of this project to Institutes of Higher Education at a local, state, and national level. The proposed project initiatives will operate from the Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program, a FY 2000 winner of a U. S. Department of Education Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Model Program Grant and the recipient of a 2001 Exemplary Substance Abuse Prevention Program Award by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services. Participants will complete one of three inteventions: a Peer Theatre Intervention, a group Motivational-Interviewing based intervention, or an education-only control condition. Data will be collected at baseline, 6-month, and 12-month follow ups, and mixed model analyses will be used to assess for both longitudinal and between group effects on variables such as alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems. If programs are found to be effective, then variables will be tested as potential mediators (e.g., perceptions of social norms) or moderators (e.g., level of psychological distress) of program effectiveness.