Outcomes from a randomized controlled trial of a multi-component alcohol use preventive intervention for urban youth: Project Northland Chicago

• Published in: Addiction (Abingdon, England) Vol. 103; no. 4; pp. 606 - 618
• Main Authors: Komro, Kelli A., Perry, Cheryl L., Veblen-Mortenson, Sara, Farbakhsh, Kian, Toomey, Traci L., Stigler, Melissa H., Jones-Webb, Rhonda, Kugler, Kari C., Pasch, Keryn E., Williams, Carolyn L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.04.2008; Blackwell
• Subjects: Addictive behaviors; Adolescent; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Alcohol consumption; Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology; Alcohol Drinking - prevention & control; Alcohol Drinking - trends; Alcohol prevention; Alcohol use; Alcoholism; Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning; Attitude to Health; Biological and medical sciences; Cannabis; Chicago - epidemiology; Child; Drug abuse; Drug addiction; Effectiveness studies; Ethnicity; Female; Health; Home based services; Humans; Illinois; Income; Intervention; intervention adaptation; low income; Low income groups; Low income people; Male; Medical sciences; Middle school students; Neighbourhoods; Prevention; Prevention and actions; Protective factors; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; School Health Services - standards; Schools; Schools - statistics & numerical data; Secondary school students; Social problems; Socioeconomic Factors; Students - psychology; Students - statistics & numerical data; Substance abuse; Toxicology; Urban areas; Urban Health - statistics & numerical data; urban youth; Youth; United States; North America; America; Chicago; Chicago Illinois; Alcohol prevention; Prognosis; ethnicity; Prevention; Alcoholic beverage; Randomization; Clinical trial; Evolution; Public health; Human; Consumption; Drug addiction; urban youth; Ethnic origin; Urban environment; Ethanol; Alcoholism; Controlled therapeutic trial; Ethnic group; Project; low income; Treatment; Addiction; Adolescent; intervention adaptation
• ISSN: 0965-2140; 1360-0443
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2007.02110.x

ABSTRACT Aims  The goal of this group‐randomized trial was to test the effectiveness of an adapted alcohol use preventive intervention for urban, low‐income and multi‐ethnic settings. Design and setting  Sixty‐one public schools in Chicago were recruited to participate, were grouped into neighborhood study units and assigned randomly to intervention or ‘delayed program’ control condition. Participants  The study sample (n = 5812 students) was primarily African American, Hispanic and low‐income. Intervention  Students, beginning in sixth grade (age 12 years), received 3 years of intervention strategies (curricula, family interventions, youth‐led community service projects, community organizing). Measurements  Students participated in yearly classroom‐based surveys to measure their alcohol use and related risk and protective factors. Additional evaluation components included a parent survey, a community leader survey and alcohol purchase attempts. Findings  Overall, the intervention, compared with a control condition receiving ‘prevention as usual’, was not effective in reducing alcohol use, drug use or any hypothesized mediating variables (i.e. related risk and protective factors). There was a non‐significant trend (P = 0.066) that suggested the ability to purchase alcohol by young‐appearing buyers was reduced in the intervention communities compared to the control communities, but this could be due to chance. Secondary outcome analyses to assess the effects of each intervention component indicated that the home‐based programs were associated with reduced alcohol, marijuana and tobacco use combined (P = 0.01), with alcohol use alone approaching statistical significance (P = 0.06). Conclusions  Study results indicate the importance of conducting evaluations of previously validated programs in contexts that differ from the original study sample. Also, the findings highlight the need for further research with urban, low‐income adolescents from different ethnic backgrounds to identify effective methods to prevent and reduce alcohol use.