Evaluating Behavioral Skills Training to Teach College Students to Pour a Standard Serving of Alcohol
Poster Number
1
Format
Poster Presentation
Faculty Mentor Name
Dr. Carolynn Kohn
Faculty Mentor Department
Psychology
Graduate Student Mentor Name
Margaret Brock
Graduate Student Mentor Department
Psychology
Additional Mentors
Samantha Crooks, s_crooks@u.pacific.edu, Psychology
Mark Matz, m_matz@u.pacific.edu, Psychology
Emily Worman, e_worman@u.pacific.edu, Psychology
Alondra Del Real, a_delreal2@u.pacific.edu, Psychology
Abstract/Artist Statement
Binge drinking is a prevalent and harmful phenomenon among college students. Identifying and pouring a standard serving of alcohol is an essential skill if students are to accurately limit drinks to avoid binge drinking. Behavioral Skills Training (BST) can be used, among other practical applications, to teach students to pour standard servings. However, the effectiveness of BST should be determined because it is a time-consuming procedure. Unfortunately, most of what we know about college student drinking is means of self-report data. Means obscure individual differences and may misrepresent the data. Single-case designs address these issues because each participant is exposed to all conditions and repeated measures are taken. In other words, each participant serves as their own control, which enables us to see and understand individual variability, rather than averaging it away. We used a single case nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design to examine whether college students (N = 9) demonstrated accurate pouring skills after receiving BST, and whether these tactics generalized to untrained cups and maintained at a 1-week follow-up session. Following BST, all participants poured accurately into the trained cup. All participants received BST for the cup for which they continued pouring inaccurately, and no participants required BST for all three cups. At follow-up, eight of the nine participants maintained accurate pouring. One participant received three BST sessions, but continued to pour inaccurately into the cup that received additional training. Although no participant displayed generalization across both untrained cups, they all poured accurately into at least one of the untrained cups, suggesting that some skill generalization occurred. These data suggest BST may be a worthwhile strategy. The single case design provided information about the dynamic nature of each participant’s pours and the reliability of effects within and across participants, which group means would not have represented.
Location
University of the Pacific, 3601 Pacific Ave., Stockton, CA 95211
Start Date
24-4-2021 1:00 PM
End Date
24-4-2021 2:15 PM
Evaluating Behavioral Skills Training to Teach College Students to Pour a Standard Serving of Alcohol
University of the Pacific, 3601 Pacific Ave., Stockton, CA 95211
Binge drinking is a prevalent and harmful phenomenon among college students. Identifying and pouring a standard serving of alcohol is an essential skill if students are to accurately limit drinks to avoid binge drinking. Behavioral Skills Training (BST) can be used, among other practical applications, to teach students to pour standard servings. However, the effectiveness of BST should be determined because it is a time-consuming procedure. Unfortunately, most of what we know about college student drinking is means of self-report data. Means obscure individual differences and may misrepresent the data. Single-case designs address these issues because each participant is exposed to all conditions and repeated measures are taken. In other words, each participant serves as their own control, which enables us to see and understand individual variability, rather than averaging it away. We used a single case nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design to examine whether college students (N = 9) demonstrated accurate pouring skills after receiving BST, and whether these tactics generalized to untrained cups and maintained at a 1-week follow-up session. Following BST, all participants poured accurately into the trained cup. All participants received BST for the cup for which they continued pouring inaccurately, and no participants required BST for all three cups. At follow-up, eight of the nine participants maintained accurate pouring. One participant received three BST sessions, but continued to pour inaccurately into the cup that received additional training. Although no participant displayed generalization across both untrained cups, they all poured accurately into at least one of the untrained cups, suggesting that some skill generalization occurred. These data suggest BST may be a worthwhile strategy. The single case design provided information about the dynamic nature of each participant’s pours and the reliability of effects within and across participants, which group means would not have represented.