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School-based alcohol prevention programs are essential in helping to reduce and eliminate alcohol use among adolescents. Evaluative mechanisms to assess these programs are also vital to developing effective educational strategies that address the circumstances that place adolescents at risk for underage drinking and driving under the influence. The Every 15 Minutes program is a first-generation model of school-based alcohol prevention that incorporates simulated alcohol-related consequences with various community elements.

Elemental to effective school-based alcohol prevention programs are integrated community wide initiatives to raise awareness of the consequences of underage alcohol use and to deter access through a combination of countermeasures including legal, enforcement, medical, media, and political entities. Every 15 Minutes Program is a model of both school and community-based alcohol prevention that incorporates simulated alcohol-related consequences with community elements that include students, parents, educators, school administrators, health systems, and law enforcement personnel

EVERY 15 MINUTES SUMMARY REPORT
FEBRUARY, 2001

This summary includes the responses of students designated as the "living dead" or who participated as part of the crash scene in the Every 15 Minutes program during the 1999-2000 school year.

Participants:

    • 1198 participants completed pre and post tests from 47 high schools
    • 539 were male and 654 were female
    • age range was 14-20 years of age with an average age of 16.74 years
    • 5.2% of the students were freshmen; 6.9% were sophomores; 37% were juniors; and 50.4% were seniors
    • time between pre and post tests ranged from 19 to 118 days with an average of 58 days

Statistically Significant Results from Pre to Post tests:

    • students decreased the number of daily and weekly drinking episodes
    • less likely to drive when drinking
    • less likely to drive when they had drunk 3-4 drinks or 5 or more drinks
    • less likely to be a passenger with a driver who had been drinking
    • less likely to ride with a driver who had drunk 1-2 drinks or 3-4 drinks
    • more likely to watch how much their friends are drinking
    • more likely to worry about how much their friends are drinking
    • more likely to prevent their friends from driving when the friends are drinking
    • more likely to talk with their own parents about drinking
    • more likely to talk with a teacher about drinking
    • more likely to designate a non-drinking driver
    • more likely to buckle their seat belts
    • more likely to monitor their own intake of alcohol
    • more likely to call for a ride home rather than drink and drive
    • more likely to choose not to drink
    • more likely to take some ones keys or hand over their keys if drinking
    • less likely to engage in drinking games
    • less likely to binge drink
    • more likely to walk home rather than drive
    • more likely to get a ride home rather than drink and drive
    • more likely to write a contract with parents regarding circumstances of drinking and driving behavior

    Program Evaluation:
    On a scale of 1-5, students were asked to rate the meaningfulness of the different components of the program. They are listed here with the most meaningful to the least meaningful.

    Event / Goal Rating
    Memorial Assembly 4.02  
    Learning about the grief process 3.68
    Retreat 3.53  
    Understanding my own vulnerability 3.46   
    Legal aspects of drinking and driving 3.42
    Hearing from professionals 3.41
    Collision scene/arrest 3.33
    Obituary 3.00
    Being pulled out of class 2.44

    Statistically Significant Results from Pre to Post test for Parents:
    • More prepared to control or prevent alcohol problems
    • More confident teenager does not drink and drive

Program Evaluation:
On a scale of 1-4, parents were asked to rate the meaningfulness of the different components of the program. They are listed here with the most meaningful to the least meaningful:

Event / Goal Rating 
Child learning about the grief process 3.75
Child learning legal aspects of drinking and driving 3.63
Child understanding their own vulnerability 3.53
Memorial Assembly 3.11
Letter writing/reading 2.98
Hearing from professionals 3.56
Obituary 2.51
Death notification 2.50

Date collected and analyzed by:
Judith A. Bordin, Ph.D.
Professor, Child Development Program
California State University, Chico


For more information contact the National Every 15 Minutes Organization

Office: 484.898.0390 or 610.814.64188