This project provides information about norms and attitudes related to alcohol use and driving. This volume reports the methodology, findings, discussion, and conclusions of a meta-analysis of primary prevention studies. Controlled studies dealing with the prevention of non-infectious diseases (e.g., heart attack, obesity, hypertension) were analyzed to determine what factors were associated with improvement in recipients receiving primary prevention interventions. The findings indicated that programs in areas related to health or reducing accidents were more successful than programs in areas of substance abuse, mental health and deviance. Technological, pharmacological and combinations of education, information, technology and drug interventions were the most successful interventions. Further, when the site of the intervention was other than a school, the recipients experienced greater improvement. The author concluded that primary prevention interventions can be successful and useful in programming aimed at reducing the incidence of drinking and driving. Although additional primary prevention studies should be analyzed to confirm the outcomes in this study, the study establishes primary prevention as the logical basis for policies and programs aimed at coping with drunk driving and its consequences. Information on the other aspects of the project can be found in other volumes of this report as follows: Volume I--Review of the Literature; Volume III-Report of Individual Interviews; Volume IV--Report of Focus Groups; and a booklet entitled "Suggestions for Developing Prevention Programs to Reduce the Incidence of Alcohol-Impaired Driving.".
Abstract