EVALUATION OF 2 STUDENT AND TEACHER INVOLVED ALCOHOL PREVENTION PROGRAMS

Two versions of a school-based alcohol prevention programme for 7th gr ade students were evaluated against a non-treated comparison condition . Both programme versions were based on a social-cognitive theory appr oach to alcohol prevention, and differed in the level of role-specific ations for participating teachers and peer leaders. Twelve schools wit h 955 students in Bergen, Norway, participated in the study. Four scho ols were randomly assigned to each of the three conditions, and the pr ogramme was implemented during 10 class periods over 2 months in Sprin g, 1992. Pre- and post-test surveys were conducted, assessing alcohol use, as well as cognitive variables related to alcohol use in a specif ic context (intentions, attitudes, norms and self-efficacy expectation s). Results showed that the highly role-specified (HRS) version had a higher degree of student involvement than the less role-specified (LRS ) version, indicating that the HRS programme was more successful in en gaging students in alcohol prevention activities. A significant differ ence in programme effectiveness was found, as measured by an overall p rogramme effect across all dependent variables. This effect was explai ned by significantly more positive outcomes in the HRS version compare d to both the LRS and the non-treated conditions, while the LRS versio n did not differ significantly from the non-treated condition.