Identifying effective components of alcohol abuse prevention programs: effects of fear appeals, message style, and source expertise.

Despite the importance of alcohol abuse prevention programs, the effectiveness of many components of these programs has not been demonstrated empirically. An experiment tested the efficacy of three components of many prevention programs: fear appeals, one- versus two-sided message style, and the expertise of the source. The persuasive impact of this information was examined on 113 ninth-grade students' intentions to abstain from drinking alcohol while they are teenagers. The results reveal that fear appeals are successful in strengthening students' intentions to refrain from drinking. Implications are discussed for implementing these principles and for designing future investigations of alcohol abuse prevention programs.

Effects of halfway house placement on retention of patients in substance abuse aftercare.

One hundred twenty-four male veterans were enrolled in the Birmingham VAMC Outpatient Substance Abuse Clinic (OSAC) aftercare program following inpatient treatment for alcohol, cocaine, or mixed alcohol-cocaine abuse/dependence. Forty-two of the patients were concurrently admitted to a nearby halfway house (HH) while the remaining 82 patients made community-based (CB) living arrangements. Chi-square analysis showed the two groups were matched, p > .05, in regard to age, race, marital status, presenting problem, and referral source. The CB group experienced significantly, p < .05, higher early dropout (40 vs 0%) from aftercare. Of the others engaging in treatment, the HH patients stayed in OSAC aftercare 60 days longer and had significantly, p < .01, more clinic visits. A higher proportion, p < .01, of HH patients completed each of four treatment milestones: education group, psychological testing, psychological interview, and treatment planning/update. On average, the HH patients remained in OSAC an additional 90 days after their halfway house discharge. Although not significantly different, p > .05, the frequency of HH patients receiving administrative discharge status of Treatment Complete was twice (28.2%) that of CB patients (15.1%). It is concluded that concurrent halfway house placement can aid in aftercare retention and completion.