Immediate and Long-term Efficacy of the Expectancy Challenge Alcohol Literacy Curriculum on Reducing Adverse Alcohol Outcomes - Abstract College student alcohol use remains a significant public health issue. College students consume alcohol at higher rates than their non-college peers, and the annual consequences associated with college student drinking include hundreds of thousands of physical and sexual assaults and over 1,500 fatalities. Although most colleges and universities have implemented evidence-based prevention and intervention programs, recent research suggests that rates of drinking-related harms have changed little, and that most widely used programs may not be as effective as once thought. Identifying cost-effective ways to reduce problematic alcohol use and associated harms remains vitally important. Based on decades of theoretical and applied research, alcohol expectancies could be a prime target for development of effective prevention and intervention methods. Expectancies mediate the influence of other antecedent variables, predict future alcohol use, and may be a causal variable that directly influences drinking behavior. Education focused on expectancies is ineffective in producing behavior change. Use of experiential expectancy challenge methods that include a drinking exercise have been effective in the laboratory, but are impractical for widespread use. The Expectancy Challenge Alcohol Literacy Curriculum (ECALC) is a 50-minute interactive program, and the only non-experiential expectancy challenge that has been successful in significantly reducing alcohol use among college students. In studies focused on mandated students, fraternity and sorority members, and first year college students, ECALC has produced larger effect sizes than experiential expectancy challenge and all widely used programs. ECALC outcome studies have thus far been limited to four weeks, but the design of ECALC suggests that effects might be sustained for much longer. The primary aim of the proposed project is to evaluate duration of ECALC effects over the course of 6 months, and to assess the impact of smart phone- delivered boosters on maintenance and enhancement of effects. If successful, this project will validate the use of ECALC as an efficient and effective program for reducing problematic alcohol use and negative consequences among college students.
