Alcohol Abuse
Conditions
Keywords
alcohol, sexual violence, risky sex, college students
Brief summary
This study involves a randomized controlled trial that builds upon a successful pilot intervention study to address problematic and dangerous drinking among young adult college students studying abroad in foreign environments. Despite universities and colleges citing alcohol misuse as the most concerning issue for their students abroad, most institutions offer no empirically-based prevention efforts tailored to this at-risk population. The proposed intervention attempts to fill a major gap for the nearly 333,000 students completing study abroad programs each year by addressing empirically-based and theoretically-informed risk and protective factors of correcting misperceived peer drinking norms and promoting cultural engagement abroad. In addition to preventing heavy and problematic drinking, the intervention seeks to prevent risky behaviors and experience of sexual violence victimization, which are strikingly common among study abroad students and have the potential for lasting physical and psychological effects upon return home. The investigators will conduct a randomized controlled trial of a developed intervention with a sample of 1,200 college students studying abroad from 35 U.S. universities and colleges. The brief, online intervention is text and video based and contains evidence-based components of personalized normative feedback to correct students' misperceived drinking norms, content to promote engagement with the cultural experience abroad and addressed difficulties adjusting to life in the foreign environment, and tips and strategies to prevent risky sexual behaviors and sexual violence victimization abroad. Participants will complete online surveys at five time points (predeparture, first month abroad, last month abroad, one-month post-return, and three-months post-return) to assess for intervention effects on drinking, risky sex, and sexual violence outcomes. The investigators will examine whether the mechanisms targeted by the intervention (changes in perceived norms, engagement in the cultural experience abroad) serve as mediators of intervention efficacy.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALPNF + SAF
Personalized normative feedback (PNF) to correct misperceived peer drinking norms abroad + sojourner adjustment feedback (SAF) to promote cultural engagement abroad.
Sponsors
Loyola Marymount University
RAND
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Masking description
Masking of participants not possible
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 25 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Between the ages of 18 and 25 * Signed up to study abroad in one of the 12 most popular destinations (i.e., United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, China, Ireland, Australia, Costa Rica, Japan, South Africa, and Mexico * Plan to study abroad for between 8 and 21 weeks (approximately one quarter/semester) * Have a working email address
Exclusion criteria
* None except not meeting eligibility criteria
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Drinks per week | Past month (30 days) | Total drinks per week in the past 30 days |
| Binge drinking frequency | Past month (30 days) | Frequency of binge drinking (5+ drinks on one occasion for males; 4+ drinks on one occasion for females) |
| Alcohol-related consequences | Past month (30 days) | 24-item Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire, a measure of negative consequences often used with the college population. The scale contains 24 yes/no items that when summed gives a score from 0 to 24 (score of 24 indicates experience of all 24 alcohol consequences in the past 30 days) |
| Risky sexual behaviors | Past month (30 days) | Sexual Risk Survey, a 23-item measure designed for and validated with college student samples. The scale yields an overall sexual risk behaviors score based on responses to the 23 items. The scale allows for open-ended responses that are then recoded into ordinal categories for generating an overall score from 0 to 92 (higher scores = higher risk). |
| Sexual violence victimization | Change in any sexual violence victimization experiences from before study abroad trip through the three months following the completion of the study abroad trip | A scale to assess any sexual violence victimization was created from items modified and informed by items from the Sexual Experiences Survey and the National Drug-Facilitated, Incapacitated, and Forcible Rape study. The items are gender-specific (i.e., separate wording of items for those that identify as men, women, and gender-neutral) and contains 12 items with a yes/no format. Endorsement of any yes response yields an affirmative response to the outcome of experience of any sexual violence |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed