The long-term objective is to prove the utility of conducting National Alcohol Screening Day (NASD) for the second consecutive year in April, 2000 by demonstrating its capacity to draw Americans with alcohol problems to free and anonymous community-based education and screening events. NASD, a program of the non-profit National Mental Illness Screening Project (NMISP), seeks to contribute to the growing body of evidence that screening and brief interventions for alcohol problems impacts the evolution of alcohol use disorders and increases treatment-seeking behavior among those with signs of them. Approximately 1,800 health care facilities and primary care providers and 500 colleges will be recruited to conduct the NASD screening program in communities across the nation. Volunteer health professionals at these sites will conduct the program using the education, screening and referral model developed by the National Mental Illness Screening Project (NMISP) and educational materials provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), and sponsoring organizations. A toll-free Site Locator Line will be available for use by members of the public to locate the screening site nearest them. A national media campaign will promote participation in the screenings and decrease stigma. A follow-up study will be conducted through phone calls to program participants on a voluntary basis. The study will help determine: 1) the efficacy of the program in moving individuals affected by alcohol use disorders into treatment, 2) the type and length of treatment obtained by participants and 3) factors that prevented those with referrals from seeking evaluation and/or treatment.
| Wallenstein, Gene V; Pigeon, Sharon; Kopans, Barbara et al. (2007) Results of National Alcohol Screening Day: college demographics, clinical characteristics, and comparison with online screening. J Am Coll Health 55:341-50 |
