No abstract

Recent research revealed that action video game players outperform non-players in a wide range of attentional, perceptual and cognitive tasks. Here we tested if expertise in action video games is related to differences regarding the potential of shortly presented stimuli to bias behavior. In a response priming paradigm, participants classified four animal pictures functioning as targets as being smaller or larger than a reference frame. Before each target, one of the same four animal pictures was presented as a masked prime to influence participants' responses in a congruent or incongruent way. Masked primes induced congruence effects, that is, faster responses for congruent compared to incongruent conditions, indicating processing of hardly visible primes. Results also suggested that action video game players showed a larger congruence effect than non-players for 20 ms primes, whereas there was no group difference for 60 ms primes. In addition, there was a tendency for action video game players to detect masked primes for some prime durations better than non-players. Thus, action video game expertise may be accompanied by faster and more efficient processing of shortly presented visual stimuli.

Zusammenfassung. Theoretischer Hintergrund: Der Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) und die Kurzform AUDIT-C sind etablierte Screeninginstrumente, u. a. zur Erkennung des riskanten Alkoholkonsums. Fragestellung: Validierung und Bestimmung der Cut-Off-Werte beider Screenings für Studierende deutscher Hochschulen. Methode: Auf Basis zweier Querschnittsanalysen (1. Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften; n = 490, 60 % männlich; 2. drei Universitäten; n = 1456, 47 % männlich) erfolgten die Analysen anhand des, mittels Mengen-Frequenz-Indizes erhobenen, externen Kriteriums von > 60 bzw. > 120 Gramm Reinalkohol pro Woche (Frauen / Männer) bzw. eines praktizierten Rauschtrinkens. Zusätzlich erfolgte eine Erfassung Alkohol-assoziierter Probleme. Ergebnisse: Die Verbreitung des riskanten Alkoholkonsums im letzten Monat betrug 53 % bzw. 56 % und war mit signifikant mehr alkoholbedingten Problemen assoziiert. Die Testgüte beider Screenings war gut bis exzellent. Die optimalen Cut-Off-Werte betrugen für den AUDIT ≥ 5 Punkte, für den AUDIT-C ≥ 4 Punkte bzw. jeweils ≥ 4 bei Frauen und ≥ 5 bei Männern. Schlussfolgerungen: Aufgrund seiner Kürze kann insbesondere der AUDIT-C als valides und ökonomisches Screeninginstrument des riskanten Alkoholkonsums bei Studierenden empfohlen werden.

Research suggests that online interventions preventing risky substance use can improve student health. There is an increasing interest in transferring evidence-based online programs into university health promotion practice. However, little is known about how to best tailor the implementation process to capacities and context of individual universities. The purpose of this study was to assess the level of readiness (capacity) of German universities concerning the implementation of evidence-based online programs for risky substance use prevention employing an adapted Community Readiness Assessment (CRA) and to develop tailored action plans for implementation. The CRA involved 43 semi-structured interviews with key persons at 10 German universities. The interviews addressed five dimensions (knowledge of efforts, leadership, community climate, knowledge of the issue, and resources) at nine possible readiness stages (no awareness—ownership) and additional contextual factors. Overall, readiness for implementing online interventions across universities was rather low. Universities readiness levels ranged between the denial stage with a score of 2.1 and the preplanning stage with a score of 4.4. University-specific readiness was very heterogeneous. On the basis of the results of the CRA, universities received feedback and options for training on how to take the necessary steps to increase readiness and to prepare program implementation. The adapted version of the CRA was well suited to inform future implementation of evidence-based online programs for the prevention of risky substance use at participating universities.

Purpose: Hazardous alcohol consumption among university students represents a prime health risk for this population. Due to a lack of appropriate German-language (online) prevention programs, an existing U.S.-American program was transferred to the German higher education area and then evaluated. Method: For this purpose, both qualitative focus groups and a quantitative evaluation were undertaken. The guided focus groups allowed a further adaptation of the prevention program: An improved frequency–quantity questionnaire for the drinking behavior of German-speaking students was developed, and thresholds for hazardous consumption were included. Results: The additional quantitative verification of the adaptation found that 65.9% of the surveyed students found the adapted program suitable for the higher education context and 62.6% stated that every university should provide such a program. Discussion: The adaptation process described here made it possible to develop an online prevention program tailored to the lifeworld of students in the German-speaking region.