Interpersonal communication outcomes of a media literacy alcohol prevention curriculum

Abstract

Media literacy intervention efficacy literature has focused on media-relevant (e.g., knowledge and realism) and behavior-relevant outcomes (e.g., attitudes and behaviors), without much attention paid to interpersonal communication outcomes. This project examined interpersonal communication after participation in two versions (analysis plus analysis and analysis plus planning) of the Youth Message Development (YMD) intervention, a brief media literacy curriculum targeted at preventing high school student alcohol use. Participants attended a 75-mins media literacy YMD workshop and completed a delayed posttest questionnaire 3 to 4 months later. Overall, 68 % participants replied affirmatively to interpersonal communication about the YMD intervention. Communication about the workshop moderated the effects of the type of workshop (analysis plus analysis or analysis plus planning) on self-efficacy to counter-argue (but not critical thinking). Interpersonal communication moderated the effects of the YMD intervention on self-efficacy to counter-argue, thereby signaling the importance of including interpersonal communication behaviors in intervention evaluation. Keywords Alcohol prevention, Evaluation, Interpersonal communication, Media literacyAlcohol use, particularly underage alcohol consumption (use by those under the minimum legal drinking age of 21), is a major public health problem [1]. Rates of youth alcohol use in the USA exceed rates of youth tobacco or drug use [2] and remain high despite the adverse physical, social, legal, and emotional consequences including approximately 4700 deaths [3], physical and sexual assaults, higher risk for suicide and homicide, increased risk for illicit drug abuse, and higher risk of involvement in alcoholrelated car crashes [4,5].The 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey revealed that 39 % of high school students report alcohol consumption and 22 % report binge drinking in the last 30 days [6]. Recent reports from the 2012 Monitoring the Future study clearly document that although alcohol use among adolescents dropped significantly in the last 5 years, they still use at unacceptably high levels. For instance, 3.6 % of 8th graders, 14.5 % of 10th graders, and 28.1 % of 12th graders in 2012 reported getting drunk in the past month [7]. These statistics suggest a need for novel efforts to prevent underage drinking and encourage healthier decisions regarding alcohol use. Thus, it is imperative to develop and deliver interventions that prevent alcohol use.Intervention approaches to prevent underage drinking utilize two primary avenues for change: efforts to change the adolescent and efforts to change the adolescent's environment [2]. Intervention approaches to change adolescent behaviors include provision of knowledge, skills, and/or motivation to change adolescent beliefs, attitudes, norms, and intentions. On the other hand, intervention approaches to change the adolescent's environment seek to reduce opportunities for underage drinking by enforcing legislation for minimum age re...

Shaping Alcohol Health Literacy: A Systematic Concept Analysis and Review

“…Reflecting the emphasis on media literacy, the antecedents of alcohol health literacy are identified as teaching media lit- eracy (e.g., Austin & Johnson, 1997;Bannerjee et al, 2013;Berey et al, 2017;Chang et al, 2016;DeBenedittis, 2011;Hall et al, 2011). Reflecting also the situating of alcohol health literacy as a property of the individual and especially important for young people, several studies identify the importance of parents and schools in providing advice (Kheokao et al, (Austin & Johnson, 1997;Banerjee et al, 2015;Berey et al, 2017). Drinking is a social behavior and studies identify the importance of changing social norms (Pati et al, 2018;Radanielina Hita et al, 2018;Ratzan, 2016;Rundle-Thiele et al, 2013), community social control (Gordon et al, 2016;Pati et al, 2018), and developing skills required to manage social situations where there is alcohol involved (Austin et al, 2016;Bohman et al, 2004;Ratzan, 2016).…”

“…(n = 4)] or were written by the same authors using the same concept (n = 4), they were excluded. Where an author had authored different studies using different concepts, both articles were included (Austin & Johnson, 1997;Austin, Muldrow, & Austin, 2016;Banerjee, Greene, Hecht, Magsamen-Conrad, & Elek, 2013;Banerjee, Greene, Magsamen-Conrad, Elek, & Hecht, 2015).…”

An E-Learning Adaptation of an Evidence-Based Media Literacy Curriculum to Prevent Youth Substance Use in Community Groups: Development and Feasibility of REAL Media

“…The YMD curriculum consists of four lessons, is approximately 90 minutes in length, and is delivered in-person by a trained facilitator either all at once or in multiple sessions. Lessons focus on (1) media reach and strategies advertisers use to sell products, (2) claims in advertisements and counterarguments to those claims, (3) production techniques advertisers use to get attention (eg, setting, colors, font size), and (4) the application of content learned in lessons 1 to 3 to the development of a drug prevention message in the form of a poster [13,14].…”

“…Youth Message Development (YMD) is one example of an evidence-based program targeting youth in middle adolescence [13,14]. YMD is a brief, developmentally appropriate intervention for early high school-aged youth (ages 13-15 years) that aims to prevent adolescent substance use via increasing media literacy skills.…”

“…Initial research on YMD focused on smoking-specific ads, and results indicated a positive impact on beliefs about smoking as well as intentions to smoke among youth who received YMD relative to controls [18,19]. A follow-up study focused on alcohol ads and demonstrated positive effects on youth self-efficacy to apply curriculum skills [13]. Whereas many existing prevention curricula are time-intensive and are school- and family-based, YMD is unique in that it is designed to be brief (90 minutes or less) and delivered by community groups.…”