Environmental Prevention: Why Do We Need It Now and How to Advance It?

Burkhart, Gregor; Tomczyk, Samuel; Koning, Ina M.; Brotherhood, Angelina

doi:10.1007/s10935-022-00676-1

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…VR is interesting to adolescents and represents an innovative medium for them. Current preventive measures-which often take the form of posters, workshops, and lectures and are based on the assumption that adolescents choose their behavior rationally-have shown only limited effects (34) and acceptance in the target group (35). VR could overcome this barrier by addressing preventive actions at the target group through gamification in an appealing and engaging way.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescents' perceptions and user experiences with a virtual reality-based alcohol prevention tool in Germany: A focus group study

Hrynyschyn

Prediger²,

Lyk³

et al. 2023

Front. Public Health

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BackgroundExcessive alcohol consumption is a major public health problem, with substance use early in life contributing to higher levels of use later in life. Virtual reality (VR) is an innovative technology for alcohol prevention among adolescents that could solve the problem of insufficient outreach to the target group of young people. The co-created German Virtual LimitLab simulation is one of the few examples of VR-based alcohol prevention tools and consists of a virtual house party simulation. The aims of Virtual LimitLab are to increase the users' awareness of how social pressure can influence their own decision-making as well as to enable various actions and communication strategies in order to train competencies when dealing with alcohol. The present study thus aims to explore adolescents' content- and technique-specific perceptions of Virtual LimitLab in order to gain insights into user experiences and to test the prototype with the German target group.MethodsFour semi-structured focus groups with adolescents aged 15–18 years (n = 13) were conducted and analyzed using thematic analyses. A user experience questionnaire (UEQ–S) was applied in order to quantitatively assess adolescents' satisfaction with Virtual LimitLab.ResultsThree main themes were identified (VR experience, content, and technical aspects). Participants positively assessed both the content and the technical aspects of Virtual LimitLab. This trend was also seen by the UEQ–S data, which yielded positive ratings for both pragmatic and hedonic quality. The broad variety of options in the simulation that allow the user to try new behaviors was perceived particularly positively. In general, Virtual LimitLab was regarded as an innovative tool that encourages adolescents to think critically about their personal alcohol consumption. Technical errors in the simulation and users' difficulties in identifying with the simulation were the main points of criticism.ConclusionsFeedback from adolescent users revealed positive and therefore promising results when using Virtual LimitLab as a gaming alcohol-prevention tool. Some technical aspects still need to be improved in order to further refine the prototype, and suggestions for expanding the content of the application have already been made.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescents' perceptions and user experiences with a virtual reality-based alcohol prevention tool in Germany: A focus group study

Hrynyschyn

Prediger²,

Lyk³

et al. 2023

Front. Public Health

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“…Finally, while the events in this study were not the kind that involve alcoholindustry sponsorship (and in turn, alcohol-promoting signs or novelty items), prior research has documented the role of the alcohol industry in either supporting or interfering with environmental prevention efforts (Begun et al, 2016;Burkhart et al, 2022). Thus, efforts to promote a culture of health should include engagement of the alcohol industry.…”

Section: Implications For Prevention and Health Promotion At Events W...mentioning

confidence: 93%

A Culture of Health and Alcohol-Permitted Events at a U.S. University

et al. 2022

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We examined event organizers’ understandings and management of alcohol-related risk and accommodation of people in recovery from substance use disorders and other non-drinkers, when organizing alcohol-permitted events that primarily involved faculty, staff, and graduate students. We interviewed 31 event organizers at a large, public university in California. Organizers were most concerned about avoiding legal liabilities, were less concerned about promoting responsible drinking among drinkers, and often failed to consider the needs of non-drinkers. Their actions were informed by problematic beliefs about alcohol (e.g., people need alcohol to relax and socialize), drinkers (e.g., only undergraduate students engage in risky alcohol consumption), and people in recovery (e.g., they lack self-control). Organizers over-relied on informal control to shape attendees’ behavior, failing to acknowledge contextual factors. They need education on how they can shape the event context to better promote healthy behaviors, avoid exclusively focusing on informal control and prevention of unhealthy behaviors, and promote better inclusion of people who do not drink alcohol. There is fertile ground for infusing a culture of health into events in higher education.

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“…development and clear communication of a companywide alcohol-rejecting policy or restricting availability of alcohol at the workplace) to be derived. However, the key actors in this context are, above all, policymakers, who must take responsibility for limiting alcohol use within a society [2,96].…”

Section: Limitations and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is worth noting that the studies included in the present analysis mostly focused on behavioral prevention approaches. Apart from that, environmental interventions have recently been shown to produce favorable effects on alcohol use and have received increasing attention from the research community [2,96]. Preliminary results suggest that environmental prevention is superior to behavioral prevention approaches [2], which also allows implications for the workplace (e.g.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effectiveness of workplace interventions for the prevention of alcohol use: A meta‐analysis

Fellbaum,

Mojzisch,

Bielefeld

et al. 2023

Addiction

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Background and AimsPrevious research has pointed to the potential of workplace interventions addressing alcohol consumption. However, there is still no systematic overview of the effects of these interventions. Therefore, we aimed to quantify the effectiveness of workplace interventions addressing alcohol use by conducting a meta‐analysis.MethodsA systematic literature search for randomized controlled trials of workplace alcohol interventions published between 1995 and 2020 was conducted in five databases. Studies were included if they were performed in the workplace and reported universal or selective interventions aiming for alcohol use reduction. Primary outcomes were any measures of alcohol use. Standardized mean effect sizes were used to calculate the meta‐analytic random‐effects‐model. Additional analyses were carried out to identify potential moderators and to examine the amount of heterogeneity and publication bias.ResultsTwenty studies with 4484 participants were integrated into the meta‐analysis. Results revealed a significant overall mean effect indicating a reduction of alcohol use in favor of the treatment group (d = −0.16, 95% CI = [−0.2715; −0.0511]). Heterogeneity within the data structure was found to be moderate to substantial (I2 = 75.9%, Q‐test P < 0.001, τ2 = 0.0375). Additional moderator analyses only showed a significant effect for length of measurement period (P = 0.049).ConclusionsAlcohol‐related prevention programs conducted in the workplace have a statistically significant and favorable effect on alcohol consumption. Although the overall mean effect is considered to be small, it underlines the effectiveness of workplace interventions targeting a reduction in alcohol use.

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Environmental Prevention: Why Do We Need It Now and How to Advance It?

Cited by 7 publications

References 30 publications

Adolescents' perceptions and user experiences with a virtual reality-based alcohol prevention tool in Germany: A focus group study

Adolescents' perceptions and user experiences with a virtual reality-based alcohol prevention tool in Germany: A focus group study

A Culture of Health and Alcohol-Permitted Events at a U.S. University

The effectiveness of workplace interventions for the prevention of alcohol use: A meta‐analysis

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