U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Short-Term Evaluation of a Web-Based College Alcohol Misuse and Harm Prevention Course (College Alc)

NCJ Number
217253
Journal
Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education Volume: 50 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2006 Pages: 49-65
Author(s)
Mallie J. Paschall; Melina Bersamin; Melodie Fearnow-Kenney; David Wyrick; David Curry
Date Published
September 2006
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study evaluated the short-term impact of an abbreviated Web-based alcohol misuse and harm prevention program targeted at incoming freshmen at a California public university.
Abstract
The impact of the Web-based alcohol misuse and harm prevention program (College Alc) did not have a significant impact on student-level risk for alcohol-related harm. Specifically, the findings indicated that by the end of the fall semester, students in the College Alc program reported higher levels of alcohol-related knowledge and less positive attitudes toward alcohol use than students in a control group. Students who participated in College Alc also expressed intentions to use strategies to avoid alcohol-related harms. College Alc, however, had no impact on psychosocial factors, alcohol use, heavy drinking, or alcohol-related problems. While the impact of the program was minimal, the authors suggest that College Alc may be useful as a compliment to other campus-wide strategies to reduce alcohol misuse among students. Incoming freshman at a northern California public university were solicited to voluntarily participate in the College Alc evaluation study. The 370 participants were randomly assigned to either the College Alc condition (173 students) or a control condition (197 students). Baseline and follow-up surveys were completed prior to beginning the College Alc program and following completion of the program. Surveys focused on alcohol use, heavy drinking behavior, alcohol-related knowledge, alcohol expectancies, alcohol experiences, normative beliefs, attitudes toward alcohol use and heavy drinking, and intentions to minimize alcohol-related harms. Data were analyzed using t-tests and analyses of covariance. Future research should focus on evaluating whether College Alc is more or less effective for students at higher risk of alcohol-related harm. Tables, references