Study
Morehouse and Tobler (2000) used a quasi-experimental design with a nonequivalent comparison group to evaluate the effectiveness of the Residential Student Assistance Program (RSAP) to prevent and decrease alcohol and other drug (AOD) use. The study took place in 1992–1993 and included youth placed in six residential facilities in New York, including:
- three foster care facilities, each housing 50–100 abused, neglected, orphaned, or troubled adolescents aged 13–18, placed by social services;
- one nonsecure facility for 200 adjudicated juveniles aged 13–16;
- one treatment center for 65 adolescents, aged 13–18, with severe psychiatric problems; and
- one locked county correctional facility for 200 youth, aged 16–19, who were housed in a separate unit from adult inmates.
Data was analyzed on 132 youths who had been in these facilities for 30 days or more and who voluntarily entered the program for the first time in 1992–1993.
The comparison group included “in-house” and “out-of-house” groups. The in-house comparison group (n = 168) included youth who did not participate in the RSAP that was offered at their facility. The out-of-house comparison group (n = 33) included youth residing in a facility that did not have RSAP. In the analyses, data on the in-house and out-of-house groups were combined. There were no significant differences between the intervention and comparison groups on gender, age, or race at pretest. Most youth were male and African American, with a smaller percentage of youth who were Latino, white, and other racial groups. There were also no significant differences in alcohol, marijuana, tobacco, and cocaine use in the last 30 days. Most youth reported alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco use, with only a very small percent reporting cocaine use.
Data was collected using the Monitoring the Future questionnaire. Frequency of AOD use was divided into five categories: (1) 0 times, (2) 1–2 times, (3) 3–8 times, (4) 9–29 times, and (5) daily. Two indexes were computed using data on AOD use in the last 30 days. The quantity–frequency index was based on the number of days a particular drug was used, summed across 12 drugs (alcohol, marijuana, hallucinogens, crack, cocaine, heroin, inhalants, Quaaludes, barbiturates, tranquilizers, amphetamines, and other opiates). The number-of-drugs index was based on how many of the 12 drugs were used.
Treatment group youth, regardless of the number of hours of participation in RSAP, were compared with youth who did not participate in the program. The change score on the two AOD indexes was the dependent variable for two separate sets of multiple regression analyses. No subgroup analyses were conducted.
