Impact of a randomized campus/community trial to prevent high-risk drinking among college students.

Background: High-risk drinking by college students continues to pose a significant threat to public health. Despite increasing evidence of the contribution of community-level and campus-level environmental factors to high-risk drinking, there have been few rigorous tests of interventions that focus on changing these interlinked environments. The Study to Prevent Alcohol Related Consequences (SPARC) assessed the efficacy of a comprehensive intervention using a community organizing approach to implement environmental strategies in and around college campuses.

High-risk versus low-risk football game weekends: differences in problem drinking and alcohol-related consequences on college campuses in the United States.

Unlabelled: Collegiate football games provide multiple social opportunities for alcohol use by students over the course of the weekend. The goal of this study was to examine alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences on football game weekends to determine differences based on characteristics of the game.

Methods: A random sample of students from two large, public universities in the United States completed a survey on the Sunday-Friday following a high-risk weekend (HRW, important, home game) and low-risk weekend (LRW, no home game or game of importance) (N = 3,238 total).

Attrition bias in a U.S. Internet survey of alcohol use among college freshmen.

Objective: Attrition bias is an important issue in survey research on alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use. The issue is even more salient for Internet studies, because these studies often have higher rates of attrition than face-to-face or telephone surveys, and there is limited research examining the issue in the field of drug usage, specifically for college underclassmen. This study assessed whether measures of high-risk drinking and alcohol-related consequences were related to attrition groups ("stayers" or "leavers") in a cohort of college freshmen.

The role of monthly spending money in college student drinking behaviors and their consequences.

Objective: Alcohol use among college students is pervasive and affected by economic factors such as personal income and alcohol price. The authors examined the relationship among students' spending money, drinking rate, and alcohol-related consequences.

Participants: In 2005, the authors conducted a Web-based survey among a random sample of 3,634 undergraduate students from 2 large universities.

Party behaviors and characteristics and serial drunkenness among college students.

Objective: This study examined the relationships between party behaviors and social contextual factors for the largest party attended by college students and serial drunkenness by students over the 3 traditional weekend party days (Thursday-Saturday).

Method: On two separate 3-day party time periods in the spring of 2006, a random sample of 3,600 students from two large public universities completed a Web-based survey. The survey was administered on a Sunday evening and assessed alcohol consumption, party behaviors and observations, and other social contextual factors occurring during the 3 previous days.

Date fighting experiences among college students: are they associated with other health-risk behaviors?

Objective: The authors examined the clustering of health-risk behaviors among college students who reported date fight involvement.

Participants And Methods: The authors administered a Web-based survey to a stratified random sample of 3,920 college students from 10 universities in North Carolina.

Results: Among men, 5.

Single question about drunkenness to detect college students at risk for injury.

Objectives: To examine the frequency of injuries reported by college students who replied affirmatively to the question, "In a typical week, how many days do you get drunk?"

Methods: In Fall 2003, a Web-based survey was administered to a stratified random sample of 3,909 college students from ten North Carolina (NC) universities. Students answered questions regarding alcohol use and its consequences. Data were analyzed using multiple logistic regression, controlling for within-school clustering of drinking behaviors and adjusting for other significant covariates.

Randomized controlled trial comparing four strategies for delivering e-curriculum to health care professionals [ISRCTN88148532].

Background: Internet education is increasingly provided to health professionals, but little is known about the most effective strategies for delivering the content. The purpose of this study is to compare four strategies for delivering an Internet-based (e-) curriculum on clinicians' knowledge (K), confidence (CONF), and communication (COMM) about herbs and other dietary supplements (HDS).

Methods: This national randomized 2 x 2 factorial trial included physicians, pharmacists, nurses, nutritionists and trainees in these fields.