Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #111879

Jae Jang Kim, MS, MA, Public Health, Western Kentucky University, 1 Big Red Way, Bowling Green, KY 42101-3576, 270)745-5862, jae.kim@wku.edu

Drinking among young people especially in college is a big health problem. Most college campuses make many efforts to discourage excessive drinking, and conduct various activities for responsible drinking. However, there is no assessment of whether these activities are effective in changing students' drinking behavior. In my Personal Health class, I ask students to attend one AA meeting for an extra credit and to write their experience. Some of the students' comments were: “It was an eye opening experience.” “It helped me to evaluate my own drinking habits and my friends.” This kind of comments encouraged me to further investigate my class project. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of attending the AA meeting on changing students' behavior in drinking. Data for this study come from students in my Personal Health class (about 150 students). In the beginning of the semester, students are given a pretest (alcohol survey) for their drinking behavior. At the end of the semester, they are given a posttest, and the difference in pretest and posttest for students who attended the AA meeting is measured in order to determine if there is any change in their drinking behavior. This study is preliminary and can be expanded in the future to see the long term effect of attending the AA meeting. If there is a change in students' behavior, then attendance at AA meetings can be used as a tool to change students' drinking behavior.

Learning Objectives:

• List various activities and programs to promote responsible drinking on college campuses.
• Recognize the importance of attending an AA meeting by the students to change their drinking behavior.
• Implement the attendance of an AA meeting as a tool to change students' drinking behavior

Keywords: Alcohol Use, College Students

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.