The goal of National Alcohol Screening Day (NASD) 2002-2004 is to increase the number of individuals screened and referred for the evaluation of a potential alcohol problem. This goal will be achieved through implementing three strategies: decreasing the stigma associated with participation in an alcohol screening, increasing the number and effectiveness of screening sites, and expanding the types of screening mechanisms to include telephone and online formats. Stigma will be reduced specifically through a public information campaign and new educational materials that promote participation in NASD as a way to learn about the consequences of at-risk drinking and alcohol?s effect on health. Site performance will be boosted through a process evaluation that identifies, documents and disseminates """"""""best practices"""""""" for conducting NASD screenings, as well as site training, mentoring and incentives for effective implementation. NASD will increase its scope by incorporating community health care facilities, colleges, primary care offices, emergency departments, workplaces and HMOs into the screening program. Site registration levels are expected to grown from approximately 1400 to 1700 sites over the three-year grant period. All participants will be screened using the 10-question AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test). Individuals screened through the program will be given a referral for further evaluation if warranted by the screening results. Two research projects will also be performed to evaluate the NASD program. A follow-up study will be conducted by interviewing participants at select community and primary care screening sites in order to determine the extent that program participation helped individuals to seek further evaluation and/or reduce or quit drinking. An experiment involving 60 colleges will compare the effectiveness of in-person event based screening with online screening and with a combination of the two mechanisms.
| 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 |
