THE EFFECT OF A SCHOOL PREVENTION PROGRAM ON ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION A SOLOMON FOUR GROUP DESIGN

Abstract

"The aim of this study was to investigate the direct and indirect effect of the Unplugged program on alcohol consumption (AC) as reported by schoolchildren a year after program implementation within a Solomon four group design. A randomized control trial using the Unplugged program was carried out among schoolchildren at 24 primary schools. Twelve schools were assigned to the experimental group (EG, n = 798, n = 401EG no pre-test, n = 397EG pre-test) while 12 schools were assigned to the control group (CG, n = 622, n = 298CG no pre-test, n = 333CG pre-test). The mean age of the schoolchildren was 13.5 years, SD = 0.59; 47.5% girls. The sample consisted of 1420 schoolchildren in total. The data collection was carried out immediately before implementing the program (T1, experimental and control group with a pre-test), immediately after implementing the program (T2) and a year after program implementation (T3). The consumption of alcohol during the last 30 days (Hibbel, Guttormsson, Ahlström, & Kraus, 2012) was dichotomized for the purposes of the statistical analysis. A serial mediation analysis was performed through the Hayes´ PROCESS tool in SPSS 25 (Model 6). The controlled variables in the serial mediation analysis were ACT2, pretest, and gender. The mediation effect was tested on 5000 samples by means of Bootstrapping. The direct effect of Unplugged on ACT3 was confirmed. The effect of Unplugged on ACT3 was serially mediated by meaningful participation in the community T3 and satisfaction with oneself T3. The results of this study have contributed to the effectiveness of the European school-based drug use prevention program Unplugged among Slovak schoolchildren."