Abstract

Background: Youth drinking and driving after drinking remains an important public health concern to this nation. Alcohol is the most frequently abused drug among youth. Alcohol-impaired-driving-fatalities are a significant mortality risk for youth. The average age of first consumption was 14.25 years in this study. A school-based intervention called Shattered Dreams was selected to address the problem of youth drinking, by educating high school juniors and seniors about the dangers of alcohol use through an intense, up-close vehicle crash simulation.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention in terms of changing student beliefs and attitudes about drinking in general, and about drinking and driving in particular.

Methods: The theoretical framework for this study was the transtheoretical model which involves progressive stages over time and has been shown to be effective in behavior change interventions. An outcome evaluation was performed using pre- and post-intervention surveys. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for statistical analysis (alpha= 0.05).

Results and Discussion: Students’ beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge about alcohol may explain differences in drinking behavior. In this study, there were some positive changes in attitudes and knowledge, but there were no changes in beliefs.

Significance: Study results indicated that there was a reduction in alcohol consumption and driving after drinking, following the intervention. Alcohol consumption over the last 30 days was significantly reduced from 40.6% to 34.0% (p=.000). For future youth drinking interventions, it might be important to focus on self-efficacy and student perceptions of future self.

Date of publication

Spring 5-6-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Language

english

Persistent identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10950/1340

Committee members

Cheryl Cooper, Ph.D.; Rochell McWhorter, Ph.D.; Fletcher Njororai Ph.D.; William Sorensen, Ph.D.

Degree

Master of Science in Health Sciences

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