AlcoholEdu

COUNTRY: UNITED STATES

REGION: AMERICAS

Developer: Everfi

Program Overview: AlcoholEdu is an alcohol abuse prevention program delivered through an interactive web-based format for the purpose of reducing the harm associated with student alcohol abuse. 

Design: AlcoholEdu consists of 5 online chapters. Chapters 1 and 3 address alcohol expectancies as related to peer influence, advertising, and behavioral and legal consequences of excessive use. Chapters 2 and 4 introduce students to concepts of blood alcohol concentration and the physiological parameters of alcohol use. Chapter 5 presents ideas of self-efficacy as related to safe and responsible drinking. Content includes video, static content information, interactive web pages including decision trees and brief feedback, and reflective journaling. Within the website’s linear design are customization features based on participants’ gender and drinking status. 

Evaluation¹: The program was evaluated at post-test using a clustered, randomly assigned group of 20,150 students. Looking at students assigned to both control and intervention groups, analyses examined the efficacy of the intervention program among different groups of students, with particular emphasis on high-risk groups; those in Greek life, those referred because of judicial sanctions, and freshmen. Students were notified of the existence of AlcoholEdu by the administrator of their campus via email, which directed them to the website to complete a pre-survey and then the program itself. 4 to 6 weeks later students were sent an email to complete a post-survey. 

Key Findings: Analyses demonstrate that intervention groups experienced:

• Fewer negative alcohol-related consequences,
• Fewer days of heavy consumption,
• A lower prevalence of intentional risky behavior, and
• Increased disagreement with positive expectation of alcohol use.

High-risk groups in the intervention group trended consistently with other groups, with freshmen displaying the greatest effect size¹.  

A study simultaneously evaluating the effects of AlcoholEdu and e-CHUG at a university in the United States found both programs reduced alcohol consumption at follow-up. However, only AlcoholEdu was shown to decrease alcohol-related consequences².

Website:   http://www.everfi.com/substance-abuse-prevention

References:  

1. Wall, A. F. (2008). Evaluating a health education web site: The Case of AlcoholEdu. Naspa Journal, 44(4), 692-714.
2. Hustad, J. T. P., Barnett, N. P., Borsari, B., & Jackson, K. M. (2010). Web-based alcohol prevention for incoming college students: A Randomized controlled trial. Addictive Behaviors, 35(3), 183-189.

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