Home-based alcohol prevention program for parents and children: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a home-based alcohol prevention program to delay initiation of alcohol use in children. Methods: In 2011, a total of 1349 sixth-grade children (M = 12.15, SD = 0.47) and their mothers who could read and write Dutch were recruited from primary schools in the northern part of the Netherlands. They participated in a cluster randomized controlled trial with two conditions; (1) intervention group (5 modules which families received by mail every 4 weeks over 5 months), (2) control group (a factsheet information brochure). An independent statistician allocated the schools to the conditions (allocation ratio (1:1)). Participants and data-analyst were blind to randomization. The primary outcome was alcohol initiation. Results: Of the participants, 680 were randomized to the intervention and 669 to the control condition. In the intervention condition (N = 540) 5.4% of the children drank alcohol compared to 7.1% in the control condition (N = 601). The difference was not significant (OR = .99, 95% CI = .96-1.02, p = 52). Conclusion: The present study showed no effects of 'In control: No alcohol!' on alcohol initiation. A critical evaluation of program design and content, and future studies in different target groups, are suggested. The trial is registered at trialregister.nl, number NTR2474.