Assessing the feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of a multiple behavior change intervention addressing alcohol use, sexual risk taking, and bystander intervention.

OBJECTIVE: Prevention programs that address the intersecting health problems of risky alcohol use, unsafe sexual behaviors, and sexual violence are needed. This pilot project assessed the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a two-session group-based intervention, Sex Positive Lifestyles: Addressing Alcohol & Sexual Health (SPLASH), targeting these highly interconnected risks for college students across genders. METHOD: A total of 217 participants (51.6% male, ages 18-24) took part in the SPLASH intervention or a nutrition/exercise control condition. SPLASH included three approaches aimed at reducing the incidence of alcohol problems, unsafe sex, and sexual victimization: normative feedback to modify misperceptions around peers' drinking, sexual behaviors, and support of bystander intervention; drinking and sexual-related protective behavioral strategy training to enhance safer drinking and sex-risk behaviors; and bystander intervention skills training to promote bystander efficacy and engagement. Participants completed baseline and follow-up (1-month and 6-month) online assessments. RESULTS: SPLASH demonstrated high acceptability and feasibility, as well as preliminary efficacy. SPLASH participants reported strong acceptability of the intervention, particularly its integrated content and interactive, in-person group format. Successful enrollment (70% randomized) and retainment point to the feasibility of recruiting students to this two-session in-person intervention. Results showed sustained trends toward more accurate perceived sex-related norms and indications of increasing bystander norms among intervention but not control participants. CONCLUSIONS: Results demonstrate the potential for SPLASH to effectively address the interrelated health risks of risky alcohol use, unsafe sex, and sexual violence on college campuses and point to the need for larger-scale studies.

#4645Boricuas: Twitter reactions to the estimates of deaths by Hurricane María in Puerto Rico.

This study explores the sentiment expressed by Twitter users after the Harvard University report was released, reporting a death estimate of 4,645 Puerto Ricans following Hurricane María. Researchers utilized the NVivo addition NCapture to collect Twitter data including the hashtag #4645Boricuas. Thematic content analyses explored emergent themes within the hashtag. Geographic information systems (GIS) documented the location of Tweets and differences across geographical locations among Twitter users. The themes that emerged in #4645Boricuas included: disaster phases, media, psychological processes, and politics. GIS documented that Tweets from Puerto Rico were more likely to discuss themes of psychological processes, politics, and resilience compared with disaster phases or media. The present data highlights how individuals engage with Twitter to cope following the trauma of natural disasters.