Evaluating Behavioral Skills Training to Teach College Students to Pour a Standard Serving of Alcohol

Poster Number

1

Lead Author Major

Guiying (Angel) Zhong

Lead Author Status

Sophomore

Second Author Major

Ashley Bonfoey

Second Author Status

Sophomore

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

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Apr 24th, 1:00 PM Apr 24th, 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.