Long-Term Evaluation of a Life Skills Approach for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention

Abstract

A three-day life skills re-education program, embedded in a ten-week-long new employee basic training had no long-term effects on alcohol and drug knowledge and attitudes. Nevertheless, this study provided substantive and methodological hypotheses: 1) a primary prevention program which addresses an adult population is probably offered too late in the process of the development of alcohol and drug habits; 2) a life skills approach is probably better suited for adults inscribed in a secondary prevention program; and 3) long-term evaluation using strong designs are necessary before concluding in the effectiveness of any prevention program.

Effectiveness of public health programs for decreasing alcohol consumption

“…Early studies indicated significant changes in alcohol attitudes following enrollment in these programs; 88,89 however, follow-up evaluations did not reveal sustained change. 89 Subsequent studies have demonstrated improved outcomes as evidenced by reduced alcohol consumption, fewer occurrences of alcohol-related negative work performance, and increased motivation to reduce alcohol use. 90–93 …”

A systematic review of the effectiveness of employer-led interventions for drug misuse

“…Four 25,28,29,43 of the 27 included studies were RCTs. Nine studies were quasi-experimental studies, of which eight were interrupted time-series analyses, 32,34,37,39,40,42,47,49 and one was historically controlled.…”

“…26,30,31,33,35,[37][38][39]42,45,50 Seven analyses from five studies evaluated the effectiveness of EAPs, 26,27,39,49,51 while six studies investigated the impact of employee education. 25,26,28,29,39,43 Less commonly evaluated single interventions were written workplace drug-free policies with five effectiveness evaluations 26,33,39,44,50 and restructuring of employee benefits, with three evaluations from two studies. 34,48 Four studies evaluated multiple interventions independently, 26,33,39,48 and six studies evaluated multiple interventions collectively.…”

“…20 The majority of the studies (18; 66.7%) had total scores within the range for "fair quality," while the remaining nine fell within the "poor quality" range. Of the four RCTs, two had scores within the "poor quality" range, 25,28 and the remaining two had scores within the "fair quality" range. 29,43 In general, the weakness in quality scores reflects poor scores for internal validity (high risk of bias or unmeasured confounders) and power estimation.…”

Short-Term Substance Abuse Prevention in Jail: A Cognitive Behavioral Approach

“…Social skills training has been successfully employed to mitigate problem behaviors with a range of populations: adolescent drug users [7], American Indian adolescents [8], students in school prevention programs [l, 9,11, 121 adult substance abusers [2,3,10, 131, new employees [14], and adults with low academic abilities [5]. Oei and Jackson have also found group social skills training more effective in learning skills and reducing alcohol consumption than individual social skills training or traditional supportive therapy, whether group or individual [13].…”