Decreasing health disparities in alcohol and other drug initiation

Middle school-aged Hispanic and Black students in Massachusetts have higher lifetime rates of alcohol and cigarette use than other ethnicities. Therefore, MA prioritized Hispanic and Black non-Hispanic youth for one of its current Health Communications Campaigns. To address the social and environmental determinants of this problem, the MA Department of Public Health is developing and assessing innovative ways to address the racial disparities in lifetime rates of alcohol and drug use. A science-based prevention program is now on DVD. To motivate parents to use this 10-session program, four dissemination methods are used: the purchase of a targeted cover wrap program of “People” magazine distributed in the communities with a high proportion of Hispanic and Black non-Hispanic residents; sending a Toolkit about this and other resources to their schools; putting ads for the DVD in ethnic community newspapers; and establishing a distribution plan in the Housing Authority in one target community. The sample of intervention communities was drawn based on ethnicity in census data. Rates of distribution of the science-based prevention program prior to, during, and after the Campaign are some of the process measures. Future analysis of outcome data will include comparisons of 7th and 8th grade students of schools in the targeted communities to students in their respective regions on: substance abuse rates; and the youths' perception of their parents' disapproval of underage alcohol use. In preparation, a baseline survey was done among students to create estimates of alcohol and tobacco use prior to implementation of the program.