Prevention of alcohol use in older teens: A randomized trial of an online family prevention program.

Abstract

This study examines effects of a randomized controlled trial for an online, family-based prevention program for older teens, Smart Choices 4 Teens, on alcohol use and related outcomes. Families (N ϭ 411; teen age M ϭ 16.4, SD ϭ 0.5) were randomly assigned to the intervention or control condition in 2014 -2015. Both intent to treat (ITT) and dosage models were conducted. ITT models: At the 6-month follow-up, teens in the experimental condition reported fewer friends who had been drunk, and parents in the experimental group reported more communication about social host laws. At the 12-month follow-up, parents in the experimental condition reported consuming fewer drinks than parents in the control group. Dosage models: At the 6-month follow-up, dosage was inversely related to teen drinking in the past 6 months or 30 days, frequency of teen drinking during the past 6 months and 30 days, drinks consumed by teens over the past 6 months, teen drunkenness and binge-drinking during the past 30 days, teen reported communication about safe drinking and positively related to parent and teen reported communication about social host laws. At 12 months, dosage was inversely related to teen alcohol use, frequency of teen drinking over the past 30 days, drinks consumed by teens over the past 6 months and 30 days, and teen drunkenness over the past 6 months. Results suggest that Smart Choices 4 Teens is beneficial for families. Dissemination and implementation strategies that motivate completion of program content will improve outcomes related to older teens' alcohol use.

Efficacy of a Web-Based Intervention (Smart Choices 4 Teens) for Facilitating Parent-Adolescent Communication About Relationships and Sexuality: Randomized Controlled Trial

“…The adaptation process included creating instructional objectives, content outline, activity descriptions, and scripts through a series of iterative development cycles that included review by an expert panel and input from two rounds of focus groups with parents and adolescents. Additional information on the adaptation of the interventions is available with the results for the alcohol component [ 31 ].…”

“…Smart Choices 4 Teens was self-paced, on the web only, and contained three components for both parents and adolescents—(1) introduction and parent-adolescent communication skills, (2) adolescent alcohol use, and (3) adolescent relationships and sexuality—and was tested in a randomized controlled trial with 411 parent-adolescent dyads. Results from the alcohol use component have been previously reported [ 31 ]; the adolescent relationships and sexuality component is the focus of this paper. Consistent with the theoretical frameworks of the intervention from which it was adapted (see section Smart Choices 4 Teens Intervention ), we hypothesize that adolescents who had been exposed to the relationships component of the program, compared with those who did not, would report increased sexual communication with their parents (a main effect of intervention exposure) and the increased sexual communication with their parents would vary by gender of the adolescent (interaction effect between intervention exposure and gender).…”

Jugend und Alkohol

“…Suchtprävention in Zusammenhang mit Alkohol soll in erster Linie darauf abzielen, problematische oder gesundheitsschädliche Auswirkungen des Konsumverhaltens beziehungsweise die Entwicklung einer Abhängigkeitserkrankung zu verhindern [ 39 ]. Multiple Ansätze im Rahmen von des familiären [ 40 , 41 ] oder schulischen [ 42 , 43 ] Umfelds oder im Krankenhaussetting [ 44 ] durch Förderung der Lebenskompetenz und Wissensvermittlung über psychoaktive Substanzen und Suchtmechanismen präventiv zu arbeiten, zeigten sämtlich nur mäßige Erfolge. Als wirksamste Strategie der Alkoholprävention hat sich bis dato die Identifikation und das „case management“ gefährdeter Personen und Personengruppen herausgestellt [ 45 ].…”

Developmental Prevention Programs Intended to Change Peer Risk and Protective Factors: a Review of the Evaluation Literature

“…In Smart Choices 4 Teens, parents and teens access an online program separately then meet to discuss the content and complete recommended activities [9]. A module focused on alcohol prevention seeks to reduce youths' associations with antisocial peers and improve their resistance skills.…”