Skills training, alcohol plus general life skills: Alcohol Skills Training Program (ASTP)
Skills training, alcohol plus general life skills: Alcohol Skills Training Program (ASTP)
ASTP is a multicomponent alcohol skills training program for students at risk of developing alcohol use problems. The program provides information about addiction and offers exercises and training to help students identify personal drinking cues, develop alcohol refusal skills, and manage stress. ASTP consists of eight 90-minute sessions; however, programs conducted in as few as two sessions have been evaluated.
-
Effectiveness: = Higher effectiveness
-
Cost: $$ = Mid-range
-
Research Amount: *** = 7 to 10 studies
-
Public Health Reach: Focused
-
Primary Modality: In-person group
-
Staffing Expertise Needed: Health professional and coordinator
-
Target Population: Individuals or specific groups
-
Duration of Effects: Short-term (< 6 months) and long-term (≥ 6 months) effects
Effectiveness ratings are based on the percentage of studies reporting any positive outcomes. Strategies with three or fewer studies did not receive an effectiveness rating due to the limited data on which to base a conclusion. Cost ratings are based on the relative program and staff costs for adoption, implementation, and maintenance of a strategy. Actual costs will vary by institution, depending on size, existing programs, and other campus and community factors. Barriers to implementing a strategy include cost and opposition, among other factors. Public health reach refers to the number of students that a strategy affects. Strategies with a broad reach affect all students or a large group of students (e.g., all underage students); strategies with a focused reach affect individuals or small groups of students (e.g., sanctioned students). Research amount/quality refers to the number of randomized controlled trials (RCT) that evaluated the strategy. Duration of effects refers to the timeframe within which the intervention demonstrated effects on alcohol-related behavioral outcomes; follow-up periods for short-term effects were <6 months; follow-up periods for long-term effects were ≥6 months.
Strategies are listed by brand name if they were evaluated by at least two RCTs; strategies labeled generic/other have similar components and were not identified by name in the research or were evaluated by only one RCT; strategies labeled miscellaneous have the same approach but very different components.
Larimer, M.E.; and Cronce, J.M. Identification, prevention and treatment: A review of individual-focused strategies to reduce problematic alcohol consumption by college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol (Suppl. 14):148–63, 2002.
- Baer, J.S.; Marlatt, G.A.; Kivlahan, D.R.; Fromme, K.; Larimer; M.E.; and Williams E. An experimental test of three methods of alcohol risk reduction with young adults. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 60(6):974–9, 1992.
- Kivlahan, D.R.; Marlatt, G.A.; Fromme, K.; Coppel, D.B.; and Williams, E. Secondary prevention with college drinkers: Evaluation of an alcohol skills training program. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 58(6):805–10, 1990.
- Miller, E.T.; Kilmer, J.R.; Kim, E.L.; et al. Alcohol skills training for college students. In: Monti, P.M.; Colby, S.M.; and O’Leary, T.A., eds. Adolescents, Alcohol, and Substance Abuse: Reaching Teens Through Brief Interventions. New York, NY: Guilford Publications, 2001, pp. 183–215.
Additional studies not identified in prior reviews
- Hernandez, D.V.; Skewesb, M.C.; Resor, M.R.; Villanueva, M.R.; Hanson, B.S.; and Blume, A.W. A pilot test of an alcohol skills training programme for Mexican-American college students. International Journal of Drug Policy 17:320–28, 2006.
- Palmer, R.S.; Kilmer, J.R.; Ball, S.A.; and Larimer M.E. Intervention defensiveness as a moderator of drinking outcome among heavy-drinking mandated college students. Addictive Behaviors 35:1157–60, 2010.
References from 2019 update
- Logan, D.E.; Kilmer, J.R.; King, K.M.; and Larimer, M.E. Alcohol interventions for mandated students: Behavioral outcomes from a randomized controlled pilot study. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 76(1):31–37, 2015.
A commercial program is available from Sociometrics at https://www.socio.com/products/alcohol-skills-training-program.
For more information about intervention designs and implementation, check the articles in the References tab.
