Evaluation of an School-based Alcohol Prevention Program for Middle School Students
Condition: Alcohol-related Disorders; Drinking and Driving; Neurological Impairment
MeSH terms: Alcohol-Related Disorders
Study type: Interventional
Phase: Phase 2

Summary: 
      The purpose of this research is to create and evaluate the efficacy of an exciting (fun to
      use), and potentially disseminable computer-based prevention program, Click City®: Alcohol,
      for use by 7th graders with a booster in 8th grade students. The ultimate goal of Click
      City®: Alcohol is to prevent the onset of heavy drinking during high school and post-high
      school. Secondary goals of the program include decreasing students' intentions and
      willingness to engage in heavy drinking in high school. The proposed program is unique both
      in its delivery system and the development process.

      Aim 1: The investigators plan to develop and test approximately 24 components over the first
      two years of the study.

      Aim 2: The final Click City®: Alcohol program will consist of 12 effective components
      delivered in six sessions over a three-week period in 7th grade. This is followed by two
      booster sessions, consisting of a total of 5 components delivered over a one-week period in
      8th grade. Educational newsletters to parents and teacher guides will accompany the program.

      Aim 3: Following development, the investigators will conduct a group randomized trial to
      evaluate the efficacy of this program as compared to schools' usual alcohol prevention
      curriculum. The investigators plan to recruit, stratify and randomly assign 26 middle schools
      to one of the two conditions, Click City®: Alcohol and Usual Curriculum (UC). Students in the
      Click City®: Alcohol and yoked UC schools will be assessed prior to the beginning of the 7th
      grade program, following the 7th grade program, following the 8th grade booster, which would
      occur approximately one year after the 7th grade program, and a follow-up assessment in the
      9th grade to assess long-term outcomes, one year after the 8th grade assessment.
    

Detailed description: 
      The proposed program is unique both in its delivery system and the development process. The
      program will be delivered in a computer game like format over a school-based intranet system
      (i.e., networked computers linked to a school-based server), which enables users to interact
      individually with the program and to share their experiences by receiving immediate feedback
      on both their own responses and those of their classmates' collective responses. The delivery
      of this computer-based programs assures fidelity of implementation. Each activity (component)
      ultimately included in the program will be continually developed and tested to assure that it
      is effective at changing the targeted theoretically based etiological mechanism (risk
      factor). Development will include an experimental assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of
      each component and only effective components will be included in the program. The 7th grade
      version of Click City®: Alcohol program will consist of 12 effective components delivered in
      six sessions over a three-week period. This will be followed by two 8th grade booster
      sessions, consisting of a total of 5 components delivered over a one-week period. Educational
      newsletters to parents and teacher guides will be developed to accompany the program. The
      investigators will conduct a randomized efficacy trial with 26 middle schools. Half of the
      schools will use the newly developed program and the other half will use the programs that
      they usually do to teach about Alcohol.
    

Intervention name(s): Click City®: Alcohol
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): A school based program, Click City®: Alcohol consists of 12 effective components delivered in 7th grade and a booster of 5 effective components delivered in 8th grade.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: heavy drinking; prevention; high school; adolescence